AATMP-17 airfield ground traffic control signals

What it is

AATMP-17 standardizes the visual light signals that air traffic service units use to control pedestrian and vehicle traffic on an airfield's manoeuvring area, the part of the airfield where aircraft taxi, take off and land. It does not create new signals: it adopts the light-signal tables already set out in ICAO Doc 4444, Articles 7.6.3.2.3.2 and 7.6.3.2.3.3, as the common NATO reference. The nations' agreement to use this publication is recorded in STANAG 3758, and the current edition is Edition A, Version 2, which superseded Version 1 on issue.

Who it is written for

The document addresses local air traffic service units and providers directly: they are responsible for establishing their own procedures for ground movements and for briefing personnel on them. A separate safety annex is written for "NATO Led Service Providers" implementing the standard at existing or planned airfields, explicitly including deployed operations. This is an operator's document, not one aimed at an equipment manufacturer or a design authority, and it says nothing about who it binds beyond that: a STANAG binds a nation once ratified, and reaches a particular airfield through whatever national or contractual arrangement applies there, not through the AATMP itself.

The signals themselves

Two signal sets are defined. The primary set, used "when communications by a system of visual signals is deemed to be adequate, or in the case of radio-communication failure," comes from aerodrome control: green flashes mean permission to cross the landing area or move onto a taxiway, steady red means stop, red flashes mean move off the landing area or taxiway and watch for aircraft, and white flashes mean vacate the manoeuvring area in accordance with local instructions. A second, backup signal applies in emergency conditions or when the primary signals go unobserved: flashing runway or taxiway lights, meaning vacate the runway and watch the tower for a light signal.

The safety annex

Because the signals alone do not cover every operational risk, an annex sets a general checklist for implementing the standard: check the standard's suitability for the operation, confirm the edition and amendments in use are current, obtain and review the related civil documents, check the ratification and reservation status of the nations involved, and work out whether existing facilities and procedures are already in compliance. It then flags four specific risks: night-vision-goggle glare from the visual signals, aerodrome lights obscured by snow or ice, blind spots where the control facility cannot see part of the airfield, and personnel safety generally, mitigated by ensuring staff are trained in what the signals mean. None of that replaces a proper safety survey: the annex requires those to continue under STANAG 4720, NATO's Air Traffic Management Safety Management System standard.

What it does not cover

AATMP-17 leaves the signals used to control aircraft themselves to ICAO Annex 2, Rules of the Air. It also does not set out how a nation applies the standard to a specific airfield or contract: it records that nations have agreed to use it, not the mechanism that turns that agreement into a local requirement.

Standards it references

• STANAG 4720Background