Primarily for general aviation discussion, but other aviation topics are also welcome.
#1843250
SteveX wrote:Why is one named after a city still, which covers a tiny country, yet areas well away from that city? Should be 'British Centre' to recognise the Welsh whilst not affecting anything should Scotland ever go independent.


.. and then there's 'Gander Oceanic' .. :thumright:
#1843290
James Chan wrote:The use of what buildings will forever remain a debate that will not go away.

We have on one hand approach controllers that sit at the airport (Southend / Farnborough), and on the other hand approach controllers that sit in the same centre (Swanwick). Soon to come are virtual towers.


Virtual towers are already a reality abroad and also here, London City tower moved from the physical at the airport to the virtual at Swanwick a few months ago iirc.

ATC facilities in the modern world are just glorified call centres, could be done from anywhere. If there weren’t national security implications chances are they would be as well.

There are in theory potentially big changes for ATC staff in the future, with the idea of ratings and specific sector validations going out the window and instead an any controller in any airspace type idea.

But who knows, time will tell as the work on the concept continues.

Any Controller, Any Airspace
James Chan liked this
#1843553
rikur_ wrote:
RisePilot wrote: Because London is the only city that really matters in the UK; rest are a bunch of villages of varying size. :D

and those deserving of the second tier, got a regional pressure setting named after them ;-)


"Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford." — Samuel Johnson
#1849404
BEX wrote:Ah, but NATS recruits nationally, from all over the UK, not just locally. It's recruitment market / pool isn't limited to the locality.


It's still limiting though, because people have ties and are limited to where they can relocate. Add another city and you'll get more people able to begin the training pipeline. Even when there's no guarantee, the possibility of being able to move somewhere preferable motivates people.
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#1849455
rdfb wrote:
BEX wrote:Ah, but NATS recruits nationally, from all over the UK, not just locally. It's recruitment market / pool isn't limited to the locality.


It's still limiting though, because people have ties and are limited to where they can relocate. Add another city and you'll get more people able to begin the training pipeline. Even when there's no guarantee, the possibility of being able to move somewhere preferable motivates people.

With NATS, you have to agree to serve wherever they send you, there's no negotiation.
#1849458
chevvron wrote:
rdfb wrote:With NATS, you have to agree to serve wherever they send you, there's no negotiation.


Towards the end of my cadet course, as was the norm, we were asked to hand in a sheet of paper with our requested postings in order of preference. Three choices allowed. I put…

1) Manchester
2) Glasgow
3) Edinburgh

With an additional note saying nowhere south of Birmingham please.

So obviously got sent to Heathrow :roll:
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#1849464
Charles Hunt wrote:..

What did David Niven say when joining a regiment. "Anything but a Scottish regiment." Guess where he was sent.


The tale I heard (quite possibly apocryphal mistelling of possibly the truth above) was 'A Scots Regiment, as long as they don't wear Trews' (he wanted a kilted one). He got HLI, which was one of the few which did wear Trews :)

I served with a couple of National Service colleagues, who had both done their NS before going on to prestigious universities at which they had already been accepted, to read Russian and Chinese respectively. Their linguistic aptitude was duly noted when they were first tested on NS induction, and they were both assigned to intensive 'hard' language training, each in the other's intended academic language :)
#1849480
Mike Tango wrote:
chevvron wrote:
rdfb wrote:With NATS, you have to agree to serve wherever they send you, there's no negotiation.


Towards the end of my cadet course, as was the norm, we were asked to hand in a sheet of paper with our requested postings in order of preference. Three choices allowed. I put…

1) Manchester
2) Glasgow
3) Edinburgh

With an additional note saying nowhere south of Birmingham please.

So obviously got sent to Heathrow :roll:

My first choice was Northern Radar or any other Area Radar unit.
The course manager offered me Farnborough as first choice or if I didn't want to go there, I could go to Heathrow.
Mike Tango liked this