The ASPA considers it essential that the company that redesigned the airspace of the Valley of Mexico for the integration of the AIFA, be incorporated into the discussion about its security
The general secretary of the Trade Union Association of Aviator Pilots (ASPA) of Mexico and member of the Air Safety Commission installed by the Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT), Humberto Gual, reported that the participation of NavBlue, the French company that was in charge of the redesign of the airspace of the Valley of Mexico, in the analysis of the official reports of air incidents reported by organizations and operators in recent months, it would be vital and a priority at this time.
“For some time now, Víctor Hernández has been asked to call NavBlue because there is clearly work to be done. The structure of the airspace has to be adapted as the implementation times go by, but we have to include all the possible scenarios to be presented in the Terminal Area of Mexico and define how we are going to operate better and safer,” Gual said in an interview.
The second priority issue is the action of the Control Directorate of the Federal Civil Aviation Agency (AFAC), which since 2019 (before the downgrade), was already aware of incident reports of ground impact warning alarms ( GPWS), the same ones indicated by both the International Federation of Airline Pilots Associations (IFALPA) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) a few days ago.
“Today General Carlos Munguia is listening to us. However, in 2019 we signed a circular so that Mexico would have accurate data with which it could correct and prevent degradation. The current Director of Control of AFAC, Ricardo Colliers, openly did not want to attend to that circular alleging that it was not legal, an excuse that is not applicable because it is an advisory document and is carried out just as the FAA does in the United States to strengthen the authority and that it can make improvements to aviation conditions.”
“Today the authority finds out that everything is wrong with the IFALPA and IATA charts, when Colliers openly told us that according to his knowledge he would decide what worked and what didn’t. That only complicated things. We ask that that office urgently have changes,” he said.
The Undersecretary of Transportation, Rogelio Jiménez Pons declared that in the serious incident on Saturday, May 7, there were factors attributed to the phraseology, in this regard, Humberto Gual revealed that when Víctor Hernández was still director, Seneam abandoned the phraseology conferences with the operators ( PCPSI for its acronym in English) which are attended by American, United, Delta, Korean Air, and ASPA also as a representative of IFALPA.
Víctor justified himself, he said that everything was fine when we showed him over and over again on paper that things were wrong,” added Gual, who is also an IFALPA representative in Mexico.
The representative of the pilots confirmed that the airlines are spending more fuel, which is not explained since before the redesign of the airspace they operated almost 78 operations per hour and today there are 50, however there are more diversions to alternate airports in which AIFA is included.
“Both ASPA and IFALPA are participating in this Commission with every intention of fixing this urgent situation, today we want to correct things, without excuses,” he concluded.