Agree with all the sentiments about the lazy R/T and the effect it has, not only on ATC, but also other aircraft. For example, you are on a heading to the Nth of track to establish the 15 NM spacing we need to give Dubai App for straight in arrivals, and just as we are about to turn you back to the south, UAE9961 B744, calls "Good evening UAE, this is UAEninety-nine sixty-one Heavy, a Boeing 747 400, checking in with you, still under Tehran control, cleared to 27-oh, to be 27-oh twenty before ORSAR, estimating ORSAR time thirty two, landing dubai, information Juliet recieved." In the meantime with the 130 kt tailwind the aircraft on the heading has gone 15 NM past the point of no return, and at best the sequence is ruined, most likely TEHRAN ACC is calling on the coord line to chew me out for penetrating their airspace with an uncoordinated aircraft as the a/c is now 5 NM north of the FIR boundary, and at worst the aircraft on the heading is about to be in conflict with the Sharjah aircraft you had north of track also on a heading.
Even with the 30 second life story from UAE9961, you still don't have what you need, that being the level passing at this time to verify mode Charlie, and you still haven't got the a/c to squawk ident.
This is all hypothetical of course because as we all know, hell will freeze over before the UAE Cargo Cowboys will remember to call ten minutes before ORSAR for comms, and will instead make a similair call to above five miles past ORSAR, and about to clean up TUGOS traffic at the same level.
Bottom line is bad R/T isn't an unimportant issue, and anyone who treats it in a flippant way, is definately part of the problem. Become part of the solution and next time you are sitting beside someone who doesn't report level passing and level cleared to on first contact, tell them they should. Next time you are with someone who at midnight on a Wednesday evening, asks the reason for the delay, when they are being vectored and slowed down, tell them to look at the TCAS and see the airshow around them, and tell them to shut up and pull their head in.
ATC in the Gulf is understaffed and overworked at the moment. We work with old outdated equipment, and in many cases strange, inefficient procedures, so we need all the help we can get. Three years ago we had about 800 movements a day, and now we work over 1,200 movements a day with the same amount of staff, and with increased spacing required from Dubai APP due to the works in OMDB, which is only going to get worse shortly with even more spacing needed. We all do our best, and while from some of your points of view, our best isn't good enough, it's all we can offer. Cheers.
