ATC
Thales Scores ‘Breakthrough’ with Data Comm Tower System
Wade Stanfield, a Thales ATM operations specialist, explains his company’s tower automation system during the Air Traffic Control Association conference in October. (Photo: Bill Carey)
Wade Stanfield, a Thales ATM operations specialist, explains his company’s tower automation system during the Air Traffic Control Association conference in October. (Photo: Bill Carey)

The Thales-supplied tower ATC system chosen for the upcoming data communications trial at Memphis International Airport will, when active, become the first such product from the French aerospace and defense group to operate in the U.S. The automation system and controller display interface, used for managing aircraft on the airport surface, forms part of an integrated air traffic management system widely used outside the U.S. called TopSky. Thales formerly called the system Eurocat, but renamed it in March.