Originally Posted by
BigDaddyBoxMeal
Not seen it mentioned in the discussion so far but where I work (UK) the 737NG requirement for engine run up in cold conditions is normally mentioned to ATC by crew when reporting ready.
"Tower XXX123 ready for departure, we will require 30 seconds on the runway"
It's not a formal procedure but 3 based operators of 737s do it often to aid ATC awareness. I believe it came out of regular local ATC/operator/pilot meetings.
Intersting as I believe not many controllers know this requirement. ( I did not , but it's been a long time since I was Tower qualified ) and it malkes lots of sense mentioning this to ATC. I am not sure our Austin Controller was aware of this.
But there are plenty of those "out of the normal procedures" that controllers are not aware of . For instance recently jumseating on an ANZ A320, out of SYD , I was surprised to discover that after a long ground taxi once it was our turn to line up, we had to decline and wait quite a while until the brakes temp were lower , as on this perticular type of A320 serie the ground idle is too high and you constantly have to brake to keep reasonable speed and if the brake temp goes too high it does not allow take off. After talking to the local SYD and Kiwis controllers, they were all aware of this, but not by beeing told/trained but by (bad) experience. Fine but if the aircraft is goind to a new destination , or being sold to another continent, not sure the local controllers will be advised . Controllers cannot be told every aircraft particularity , but things like that affecting B737s or A320 we should know, as it's almost 50% of the traffic in most airports tofay....
We need more interaction between the two professions ., we used to have , but very difficult to organise nowadays..