Would this work?

[Homesick-Angel]

I Went to the pilot info night at the melbourne ATC centre last night, and was mightily impressed..Bloody huge piece of airspace we have and I must admit I didn't know the full scale of it and these guys do an awesome job.

The visit made me think of an idea thats been bouncing around in my head for some time which has to do with the use/lack of use and lack of knowledge some of us have around ATC, and the visit really brought down some of the misconceptions that I had about ATC(I dont even know how i formed some of the ideas I had-most likely poor guesswork.)

Anyway..The idea was to make it compulsory (At CASA's expense-yeah i can hear the snorts already) to sit in with Airservices and get say two or three hours of scenario based radio training, understanding airpsace, and a more detailed look at ATC,s role. basically a more realistic assessment of our practical application of radio usage and airspace knowledge.

Could be something that has to be done at PPL level when we start Nav-ing / transiting airspace.

I know radio usage is included in the Syllabus, but learning from the people who actually provide the service is better than any other form I can think of.

Might make people think a bit more about what their doing when it comes to comms?

[morno]

Would it work..... Possibly. I've sat in with ATC several times, and it's most educational as you say.

Is it even possible for it to work, given the shortage of staff.... sorry, "Traffic Management", that is currently going on and will be for some time yet? NO

morno

[Nigel Osborn]

I spent 5 years as an ATC in Sydney; I also spent 45 years as a pilot, so I can assure you it surprised me how little pilots knew about ATC. We often had senior airline captains come in & the questions they asked were often as basic as a new PPL!
One Sydney company used to get me to give a brief to their students & I hope it helped!:ok:

[Jack Ranga]

It most definitely can and would work. One of the sad parts about these visits is they don't let you in there when it's busy! There are some huge sectors in Aus, some very efficient sectors when put in perspective.

[Rojer Wilco]

I'd love to visit an ATC center. Can anyone give me a hint about how to arrange a visit in Sydney?

[VH-XXX]

Not necessary, that's what your instructor is for.

Compare it to Telstra. You pick up a phone and talk to the operator. Do you need to know how they do their job and the equipment they use? No.

Interesting, yes. Required, no.

[an3_bolt]

We used to have ATC guys/girls on the hot seat flying between Mel/Syd/Bne etc. Apart from something different - it was very educational for everyone.

Pity the security stuff killed off common sense....:mad:

[601]

We used to have ATC guys/girls on the hot seat flying between Mel/Syd/Bne etc

Did we not pay or help to pay for ATC personnel to get PPLs back in the "good old days"?

[Jack Ranga]

Not in the last 21years and 6months they haven't.

[Blockla]

You pick up a phone and talk to the operator. Do you need to know how they do their job and the equipment they use? No.Really, ATC are the same as Telstra operators... in the same way pilots are no different from bus drivers... Nice one mate!

Re Would it work...

Careful what you wish for, with staffing the way it is, you might not be allowed to leave:}

[Arnold E]

I dont realy understand all of this. Used to be that I jumped into my aeroplane, told somebody where I wanted to go, and then I went there.:confused:
Now I know that I am stupid, but why does it have to be more complicated than that.

Please Explain:confused::confused::confused:

[rmcdonal]

Interesting, yes. Required, no. Sounds like you have never been up a tower or into a CTR building? :confused: