Ok ok this has turned into a bit of a slanging match, and it was most likely my first post on here that started it off down that road, it was not the intention.
I will say this, I never use the term, for the reasons I have outlined, also because when busy I dont have the time to monitor climb rate and "tweak" the headings if its not working, as Roger Dodge suggests. I will give a clearance which is safe without monitoring, be it headings or rates or intermediate levels. Middle Earth calls me a "stupid pedant". Youre welcome to your opinion, and you carry on issuing clearances which you believe are safe, don't attack me for disagreeing with you. I give clearances which are safe and as expeditious as I can, I just choose not to use the word "expedite".
In your capacity as an upper air sector controller, you, I would hope, should have no need for a faster climb rate.
Why would you think that? Our traffic is not just overflights at cruising level, we do need to climb traffic as it departs and requests higher, from FL250 to requested and likewise carry out initial descents, along with requests for higher/lower for all manner of reasons. You say you have 6 airports within your TMA, I have somewhere in the region of 50 airports for which I need to carry out initial descents or climbouts. In a busy airspace with most of the traffic requiring a level change, faster climb/descent rates are always needed. I dont pretend to be fully at one with the job of a TMA controller, hence the comment at the end of my first post. You apparantly do not fully appreciate what goes on in an upper en-route centre, and thats where we will clash....different working methods.
I still disagree with you on one point though. Ok so you monitor the climb after telling the pilot to expedite, then something happens, emergency of some sort, or somebody spills their coffee on you, whatever, but it takes your attention away from the situation. The fact that you have to monitor means it is not an intrinsically safe clearance.
Until the word expedite carries with it an ICAO defined vertical rate which is universally understood I will NEVER use it in order to achieve separation. When I tell a pilot to do something I want him to know exactly what is expected, that is the only way which I can carry out my job to the best of my ability.
Cheers People
