Visit ATC Days this Autumn

[FlyingPanda]

Any other forumites visiting Manchester ATC this morning?

[Yankee-K]

Me

[FlyingPanda]

See you there! As I'm not immediately recognisable from my avatar, (I'll be the one with the little blonde lady, aka Mrs Panda, who happens to work at MAN!).

[Irv Lee]

Anyone want to visit to Bournemouth?

[madmaveric]

Anyone want to visit to Bournemouth?

I asked my FI at Bournemouth (after our recent PM's) and he told me that they are pretty much open to visits any time (presumably from a prearranged call from the flight school and not just me when I'm bored ). I've not talked too much about arranging a time with him yet but hopefully, on one of my washed out lessons, I can persuade him to give them a call and we can pop up/over

I guess the biggest problem will be getting from the school to the tower the other side of the airport, I wonder if I could arrange some Taxi practice on that day

[FlyingPanda]

The Manchester visit was excellent. Really interesting stuff, especially as everywhere else in the NW was fogged-in so MAN received a few extra diverts. Very detailed presentation from Chris Walsh of NATS (thanks Chris) and great to see the new systems in operation - well worth the visit if you havent been before.

Caught up with a few old faces - also had a brief chat to long-time friend of the forum, Vince. By the way, I tried to persuade Vince to come back and he mentioned that he does still drop in for a look, but avoids posting as there are still a few (insertyourowndescriptionheres) that make it a less than enjoyable experience. Real shame - I used to enjoy Vince's contributions. Any chance we could stop being (insertyourowndescriptionheres) and get back to the friendly welcoming place we used to be?

[Paul_Sengupta]

Went to Farnborough this evening. Great presentation with the emphasis on infringements in general and the response to pilot surveys. Then saw the radar room and the visual tower. All in all, excellent!

[richtyler]

Went to Farnborough this evening. Great presentation with the emphasis on infringements in general and the response to pilot surveys. Then saw the radar room and the visual tower. All in all, excellent!

Totally agree with Paul, great session and an amazing world class facility. Great to meet some fellow forumites too.

[Fisbangwollop]

For anyone still interested I still have a few places available (4) for the" visit ATC day"at the Scottish Area Control Centre at Prestwick on Saturday 24th November starting at 1030. I will be closing the list very soon.

http://airspacesafety.com/news/visit-atc-day-is-back

[alexlomas]

Thanks to everyone at Swanwick NATS for the visit yesterday - really useful information on flight plan changes and infringements as well as a really amazing opportunity to put voices to faces in DND, Area & Terminal Control and the brilliant London Information.

Apparently they may be able to squeeze a couple more people on the two other days they're doing at the end of November (22/23), so if you've never been to Swanwick before and want to go, drop them a line: david.pulman@nats.co.uk

[Colin G]

Better late than never. Durham Tees Valley Airport will be opening its doors on the 19th January 2013.
Yours truly will be the host for the event.

Two hour time slots. 10AM, 1PM and 3PM. Drop me an email if you're interested in a tour of the facilities.
Might even get the chance to play on the ATC sim!!

Email atcvisit[at]fodtva dot co dot uk

[Flyingboat]

Sod's law Colin, am due back at sea on the 9th Jan as I was for Fridays meeting, Still might get to talk to them over the Christmas period , weather permitting.

[riverrock]

For anyone still interested I still have a few places available (4) for the" visit ATC day"at the Scottish Area Control Centre at Prestwick on Saturday 24th November starting at 1030. I will be closing the list very soon.

http://airspacesafety.com/news/visit-atc-day-is-back

I'm looking forward to seeing / annoying Fishangwollop and his colleagues tomorrow at Scottish Centre. Is anyone else doing the same (I don't have a flyer lanyard)? I could probably give someone a lift down from Glasgow if it helped anyone (as a student - I'm supposed to have a lesson early morning but it looks in doubt). Might save someone a train fare and 15min walk through Prestwick.

Any really annoying / brilliant questions anyone would like me to ask in person?

[Fisbangwollop]

For anyone still interested I still have a few places available (4) for the" visit ATC day"at the Scottish Area Control Centre at Prestwick on Saturday 24th November starting at 1030. I will be closing the list very soon.

http://airspacesafety.com/news/visit-atc-day-is-back

I'm looking forward to seeing / annoying Fishangwollop and his colleagues tomorrow at Scottish Centre. Is anyone else doing the same (I don't have a flyer lanyard)? I could probably give someone a lift down from Glasgow if it helped anyone (as a student - I'm supposed to have a lesson early morning but it looks in doubt). Might save someone a train fare and 15min walk through Prestwick.

Any really annoying / brilliant questions anyone would like me to ask in person?

.

Gladly that not too many annoying questions but then again no question is ever annoying.....glad to see so many folk attending and hopefully enjoyed by all. Visitors from afar a field as Preston and Mull....much appreciated so thanks for the effort.

[riverrock]

Gladly that not too many annoying questions but then again no question is ever annoying.....glad to see so many folk attending and hopefully enjoyed by all. Visitors from afar a field as Preston and Mull....much appreciated so thanks for the effort.

Just to say a big thank-you to Paul / Andy, the rest of the Scottish Information team and the guys at D&D for the interesting, relaxed and informative day in Prestwick.

Should have come with some better questions!

Especially interesting I found

• The limitations that those at the FIR station have, with an information view from radar which they can't officially use (so they can see two planes heading towards each other, and all they can do is get the two planes to report positions and headings - perhaps with a warning to "keep a good lookout", and even if they can see a plane on the information screen, they can't tell you about them unless they are also talking to Scottish Info)
• How few people there were, considering this centre covers twice the area of any other control centre in Europe
• The great coordination with different providers and controllers (except perhaps Edinburgh... )
• How quiet D&D is in Scotland (so keep doing those Practice Pans)
• D&D Auto triangulation is only fully effective above 8000'.
• How Oceanic controller can't actually talk to the planes they control over the Atlantic. Messages either need to go digitally, or relayed via HF operators in Shannon

Pity that visitors aren't allowed to listen in to live calls (as they have a no-distraction policy - and they can't turn on speakers in that environment) but all in all, a very enjoyable day.

Good to meet the odd face I recognised also, and chat to fellow GA pilots. I'd recommend it to everyone.
The food wasn't even that bad...

RR (the guy in the red T-shirt)