The 27th meeting of the North Atlantic Scrutiny Group (NAT SG/27) was held on the premises of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, United States, from 24 to 28 October 2022. A total of 138 events occurring in the NAT High Level Airspace (NAT HLA), which encompasses the Oceanic Control Area (OCA) of Shanwick (UK), anta Maria (Portugal) , Reykjavik (Iceland), New York East (USA), Gander (Canada) and Bodo (Norway), during the 6-month review period of January to June 2022 were reviewed.
This review included Large Height Deviations (LHD), lateral deviations, coordination errors, prevented events and longitudinal loss of separation events. It allowed for the identification of causal factors to these deviation events, as well as the human error type associated with them and the mitigations that proved to be the most effective at preventing deviations.
The review will enable the continued monitoring of safety performance in the NAT High Level Airspace through the measurement of Safety Key Performance Indicators including collision risk estimates in the NAT High Level Airspace.
Annual reports on Safety Key Performance Indicators in the NAT are available in the NAT Annual Safety Reports published on the ICAO EUR/NAT website: EUR and NAT Documents (icao.int).
The NAT SG/27 meeting also revised the Oceanic Errors Safety Bulletin (NAT OPS Bulletin 2017-002 – OESB), which is intended to help Air Operators transiting in the North Atlantic oceanic airspace avoid making commonly observed operational errors. It contains recommendations, resources, and tips that may be useful in preventing these errors resulting in lateral or vertical deviations. Revision 5 of the Oceanic Errors Safety Bulletin shall made publicly available in December 2022 on the ICAO EUR/NAT website here.
