ABSTRACT
The purpose of this research was to develop a computerised Flight Plan Management system for Thornhill Air Field to be utilised for their aviation operation. The objective was to align the aviation sector with information system technologies for efficiency and effective operation substituting the manual paper based system. The dynamic changes brought about by the ever changing inventions in technology have greatly impacted the operations of various organisations both positively and negatively. With the advancements in technology as observed especially in this 21st Century, it is poignant to note that faster, easier and more efficient ways have been introduced in the reception and generation of information. In this regard Air Traffic Control across the world aligned its co-business of coordinating the movement of air traffic landing, taxing and even passing through their designated airspace jurisdiction. Aviation industry is one of the riskiest sectors which require proper management of air traffic based on accurate and reliable information. International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO) is the governing board for all aviation of the world defining the standard to be followed by aviation stakeholders. Flight plan is an integral document defined by ICAO which a pilot or flight dispatures fill-in with all details necessary for a flight schedule to be allotted to him/her. At Thornhill Air Field all the flight plans were in paper format by pilots or flight dispatures which in turn are submitted to the Air Traffic Controllers. The manual work from the filling part, the transportation, compilation and verification of the flight details and the responds to the flight plan giving the approval or rejection of the flight schedule is a tiresome task. Flight Plan Management System seek to overcome all hindrances to effectiveness and efficiency by providing a real time computerized system. In order to acquire much information pertaining the hypothetical problem identification, the researcher used various data finding methodologies which include interviews, questionnaires, site observations and even collected all relevant documents inclined to this study. The major finding which was common to all the operators among them the pilots, air traffic controllers, meteological officer and others, pointed out the problem of tiresome, labour intensive, costly, slow, ineffective among the many. The researcher concluded the facts gathered with a recommendation for the need of computerised system as a matter of agency. The software component is designed using PHP as the programming language and MySql as the database server. The pilots and the flight dispatures would in a position to enter the flight details on the computer which are then send via the web technologies to the air traffic controllers who then approves the flight schedule or reject online. This project will support the ZIMASSET cluster of computerizing the operations of various sectors of the economy through value addition and efficient delivery of services. This system provides an avenue for further development of such system as much resources are to be channeled to research and development in this sector of aviation. Future endeavors for the upgrading of the system require to link the system to other air traffic control centres and other relevant organisations in the aviation sector.
