NOT FOR REAL WORLD USE
Last update: November 2024
Changes to previous versions of this documentation are highlighted in yellow.
Some of the busiest airspace in the world is found right here in the UK and Ireland as such, Identification, Validation and Verification is extremely important to ensuring safe and efficient operations take place at all UK and Ireland aerodromes and airspaces. This document, has been compiled to detail to controllers the standard of IVV that is required for controlling and taking exams within the XU Division at an ADC level and above.
A situation that exists where by a position indication of a particular aircraft seen on a situation display can be positively identified. If an aircraft is not identified its information is not displayed correctly and thus is uncorrelated. The process of taking an aircraft from this state of uncorrelated to correlated is the process of identification.
There are in total 6 different methods which can be used to identify aircraft in the UK, these include three Primary Surveillance Radar (PSR) and three Secondary Surveillance Radar (SSR) methods. Below will detail each identification method and the steps that as a controller you should take to correlate an aircraft.
A turn for identification does not constitute a surveillance service. However, when turning an aircraft for this purpose, controllers should take the following steps:
Note - when turning air traffic for this purpose, controllers should take into consideration airspace restrictions, other traffic/returns, surveillance coverage and terrain in the aircraft's estimated/reported area.
This method of identification should consist of a period of track observation, associated with heading and position information within known radar cover based on one or more of the following:
An Air System can be identified, by observing the radar response of a pre-notified departing Air System
Note - Particular care should be taken to avoid confusion with Air System overflying, carrying out a low approach, or departing from an adjacent runway or with Air System holding overhead the aerodrome as well as birds causing possible confusion.
Note - Caution should be exercised when employing this method because simultaneous requests for transmissions within the same area may result in misidentification
Validation is the process of checking the Mode A data of an aircraft, most commonly ensuring that an aircraft is squawking the code which has been assigned to them. Thus, whenever an aircraft is identified, it is also validated.
To validate an aircraft you can use any of the above identification methods to achieve callsign correlation. Whoever instructs an aircraft to squawk a discrete code should validate it, however this is not always the case hence why it is imperative we identify and validate aircraft on departure.
Verification is the process of checking that the Mode C readout of an aircraft is correct.
Mode C verification is most commonly completed on departures through the process of asking said aircraft to “Report your/passing level/altitude”. The following conditions must be met to ensure successful and accurate verification.
Note - If an aircraft data/readout is not within +/- 200 feet of the reported value it is imperative to first re-verify with another report and then check they are on the correct pressure setting.
When providing surveillance services outside controlled airspace, a pilot is to be informed as soon as their aircraft has been identified.
When operating inside controlled airspace, the pilot of an aircraft only needs to be informed if the identification is achieved by the turn method.
| Method of Identification |
Aircraft flying inside controlled airspace |
Aircraft flying outside controlled airspace* |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inform Identified |
Pass Position |
Inform Identified |
Pass Position |
||||||
| SSR | No | No | Yes | No | |||||
| Turn | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||||
| Departing Aircraft | No | No | Yes | No | |||||
| Position Report | No | No | Yes | No | |||||
* When providing a Basic Service, a controller may identify an aircraft to facilitate co-ordination or to assist in the provision of generic navigational assistance, but is not required to inform the pilot that identification has taken place or to pass a position report.
Further information can be found in RA3227 - Methods Of Identification:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6062e43d8fa8f55b67fb3627/RA3227_Issue_2.pdf