Unfortunately another good discussion point has been sidetracked again by this idiot. Why do you people respond to his rot?
The "radar screen" or TSAD at Lt currently does not exist. A TSAD is an image of the radar picture displayed on a monitor which towers can use to get a picture or appreciation, but cannot use for separation.
With the commercial splitting of ATS awhile back, the towers were split off into a seperate business unit called Airport Services. They are responsible for for the implementation of the TSAD and after stuffing around with paper work and demands prior to the installation of the radar, have since dragged their feet getting the unit installed (even though our official documentation says that it does in fact exist and must be used!).
After a bit of jumping up and down in Melbourne, we have been reassured that the TSAD will be commissioned within the next few weeks (let's see!).
The tower cannot use the radar for separation, they are still procedural and although enroute can see the a/c to the ground, a procedural standard must be applied when handing off a/c from enroute to twr. Although pilots are told "Radar service terminated", you are still being watched and it is the radar controllers obligation to inform the tower if their appears to be a conflict with unknown VFR in E. Previous comms gave us a "cold line" which required us to call the tower and wait for them to pick up... now we have a "hot line" where the connection is instant... but we still have to wait for them to pick up!!! (Towers use ericaphons, not headsets).
As for why Lt? I think that any thinking person can pick that one. Even Hb doesn't get coverage below roughly A080 inbound, interestingly enough, most of Hb twrs E. The positioning of the radar at Lt aerodrome meant no huge environmental impact issues, and minimum greenie backlash. Sorry 'bout that Hobart.
As for overtime, excess it has been. E.D.'s regularly. My guess is staff are knackered and sickies are probably going thru the roof... vicious circle. Only recently has the staff shortages been recognised with the Canberra boffins over the past few years saying we are overstaffed and it's cheaper to pay O/T and E/D than employ and train new staff. Sounds crazy, but apparantly with training, payroll tax, super and all the addons it is!
Cheers,
R-S.
BTW, this thread was started awhile ago here...
http://pprune.org/forums/showthread....hreadid=134323