The General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has opened the ‘Enroute Air Traffic Control (ATC) Operations’ in its newly-built centre in Bateen Airport, to provide the UAE with modern, safe, and efficient air traffic control services. The ATC Centre is equipped with a sophisticated electronic system to control aircraft using UAE airspace, called the UAE Flight Information Region, Mohammad Ganim Al Gaith, Director General of the General Civil Aviation Authority, said in Abu Dhabi. The UAE is the first country in the region to install such an advanced ATC system, which even some of the highly developed European countries did not have, he added. The ‘Enroute ATC Operations’ system, worth Dh44 million, was installed by the UK-based Airsys Air Traffic Management. The system is fibre-optic-based and has advanced in-built safety features. It is supported by computerised work stations that covered the entire UAE airspace, enabling the control centre to see aircraft moving on screen even before they enter UAE airspace.
Other important events:
1841 The first Canadian parliament opens in Kingston.
1846 A group of US settlers in Sonoma proclaim the Republic of California.
1923 Aleksandur Stamboliysky, popular Bulgarian political leader, is assassinated after a military coup.
1900 Hawaii becomes a US territory.
1949 The Vietnamese state is established at Saigon under former emperor Bao Dai.
1951 The world’s first commercial computer, designed for the US Census Bureau, is unveiled.
1959 The United States agrees to provide Greece with nuclear information and supply ballistic missiles.
1962 The European Space Research Organisation is established in Paris.
1967 US Mariner spacecraft is launched toward Venus to determine if the planet can support life.
1980 The US rejects a European call for a participation of the Palestine Liberation Organisation in Middle East peace talks.
1982 Argentine forces on the Falkland Islands surrender to the British, ending a 10-week war.
1985 Militants who hijacked a TWA flight 847 to Algiers release 18 passengers and then order it flown to Beirut.
1991 US soldiers begin withdrawing from Dohuk in northern Iraq.
1993 Tansu Ciller becomes Turkey’s first woman prime minister.
1998 The UAE’s first six national judges are sworn in.
1999 Thabo Mbeki becomes President of South Africa, succeeding Nelson Mandela.
2001 Syrian troops based in Beirut and the surrounding areas, begin pulling out.
2002 A car bomb explodes outside the US consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, killing 12 people.
2004 British tycoon Richard Branson breaks a French-held record for crossing the English Channel between Britain and France on an amphibious vessel.
2005 South African President Thabo Mbeki dismisses his deputy Jacob Zuma after he was caught up in a corruption scandal.
2007 Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declares an emergency after Hamas effectively takes control of the Gaza Strip.
2008 A 7.2 magnitude earthquake rips across Japan, killing 6 people.
2013 Voters in Iran go to the polls to pick the next president.
2014 Separatists shoot down an army transport plane in east Ukraine, killing 49 servicemen.
2016 The UN rights chief asks the US to adopt “robust gun control measures” to protect its citizens.
2017 At least 79 are killed and many others are missing in a highrise London tower blaze.
