GMS,
I don't think that Sidney Hawker was saying that we deliberately waited until they were 200 from the level, just that he had experienced it. Quite often we will have a good reason for passing the new instruction once we know the aircraft is levelling off or has reached/passed a certain level, for example assuring ourselves that the aircraft now has separation against an aircraft at another level before transfer to the next sector, or has met a Standing Agreement level. I think Sidney's point is that we should be aware of the other guys problem (as of course pilot's should be of ours but more often than not aren't !!
) and try and adapt our technique where practicable. Another good reason for everyone in ATC to do fam flights ?
Let's remember that we're down here because they're up there and not the other way around. I think 99.9% of us do try and please the
customer when we can so the pilot input into how they see the interface working is to be welcomed. Otherwise how can we improve things for them ?
Pointer,
I don't believe that Sidney was referring to changing the subscale setting but rather that both crew should monitor the altitude capture (manual or otherwise). Also ATC don't in my experience play games to let people just about level off and then give another vertical instruction. I think we are pretty busy doing more important things than that (like filling in our staff travel applications !!). But seriously, there can be several reasons. Firstly we can simply forget, some of us being human allegedly. The choice here is then to let you level off, wait a minute, and then clear you to climb/descend once again as though it was part of a great plan, or give you a late but continuous clearance. What would you prefer ? We could also be waiting to get radar separation which might just be occurring as you approach the last separated level. Or you may just be passing the sector boundary, before which the controller can usually not give you any executive instructions until you enter his airspace. Or one of another hundred or so valid reasons which we all get experience of day to day in ATC. If you haven't seen ATC particularly at an Area or Terminal Centre, then the usual invite aired through the PPRuNe Forums applies. Come and see what actually goes on, then you will understand why sometimes things which might seem illogical or unecessary on the flight deck are actually usually part of a much bigger picture. Hope to see you soon
------------------
PPRuNe Radar
ATC Forum Moderator
[email protected]