North Sea Multilateration Goes Live

UK air navigation service provider Nats and ­lobbying association Oil & Gas UK last month switched their North Sea multilateration system to the “operational” mode, thus improving offshore flight safety. Controllers can now see helicopters on their radar screens in areas that are beyond the 80-nm reach of land-based radar. The multilateration system uses signal transmitters and receivers fitted to 16 offshore platforms. The data is sent to the control tower at Aberdeen airport. Full-scale trials started in 2009 and, at the time, the system was to be fully operational by June 2010.