]...I say good use of conditionals, Intersection departures and use of the ATM. And a helpful and accommodating radar team! 5-8 at the hold is now the norm
...a single runway that requires a back-track for departure from either end!Is the average ATCO age still 75?
405 movements in a day at Luton is indeed, very very good going. But please can we drop the rather patronising stance that some of these posts imply. There is no reason why the ATC service provided by Luton Tower and TC Luton controllers should differ from that which is provided by those at Stansted or Gatwick towers or their respective TC approach units. The faint whiff of amazement that it all went well, and that the Tower chaps somehow made good use of conditionals, or that TC Luton was 'accommodating' is frankly, insulting to both groups of controllers who are every bit as professional, and every bit as efficiently innovative as their colleagues elsewhere in the London TMA.
The purpose of a good AIR (Tower) controller is to safely maximise the use of the runway by minimising runway occupancy times. The purpose of a good INT or FIN (radar) controller is to safely deliver the required gaps when requested by the Tower in order to assist in achieving this result. There is no reason to suppose that this can't be accomplished by the chaps at Luton Tower and Luton Radar just as it is at Gatwick and Stansted (and at Heathrow and Manchester during mixed-mode operations). FYI, almost all the techniques employed by Luton Tower are the same as used at HIRO ('High Intensity Runway Operations') airports such as Gatwick, Heathrow, Manchester and Stansted, the only methodology not used being the modified landing clearance procedure, simply because Luton's runway is not - currently - long enough, and there aren't any rapid exit taxiways available to enable the required after-landing runway occupancy times to be achieved.
Buster, your pre-occupation with age and commodes suggests a personal almost subliminal concern for which I would strongly recommend taking professional psychiatric advice. For what it's worth, if you examined the age profile of the TC Heathrow controllers, I rather think that you'd discover the
average age is in the region of 46 - this doesn't seem to unduly affect the service that Heathrow Approach provides...
As far as snipes at LLAO's 'staffing', not quite sure which staff are being highlighted but in terms of pax handling, the 'staffing' is entirely down to the handling agents, one of whom - because of poor customer service - in the last 18 months has already received a 'yellow card' from LLAO's senior management.
The two most significant points arising from 405 movements in a day at Luton (bearing in mind that traditionally, it's July and September that weigh in as Luton's busiest months) are that firstly, this was achieved despite (unlike Gatwick, Heathrow and Stansted) Luton having only limited 'freeflow' between Luton Tower and the adjacent TMA sectors (whereby Luton Tower can depart aircraft without reference to London) and that in terms of the arrivals side of the equation, these were handled in TMA airspace (as opposed to Luton's airspace) that is frankly neither user-friendly nor designed for this level of traffic: consider that Luton and Stansted combined now generate more daily movements than Gatwick
Stansted moved close to 720 flights on Friday
and then compare the airspace structure (
routes, holds, choke points, unusual airspace 'activity' and SID interactions) and you'll readily grasp the point.
The controllers at Luton and at London certainly came up trumps and are to be congratulated on this achievement.
But it's only what one would expect from the professional ATC teams involved and it should not come as a surprise to anyone, not even to the odd aging old bear...
