Originally Posted by
songbird29
I'd think 'anotherthing' is right.
I started ATC OJT from behind the Procedural Flight Progress Board. When I got my licence the system had meanwhile switched to full radar service.
In procedural times, a radar man (late sixties men only, women's lib still in its infancy) was available in a darkened part of the opsroom, usually feet on the table and sipping his umpteen's coffee. He had to be asked via intercom to solve or expedite a problem. When he came into action he used the same frequency and probably distinguished his heading instructions from the procedural clearances by adding the word 'radar'.
Procedural controllers may only clear a/c via flight planned route or significant points.
While it is very hard these days to find a controller who remembers how to do it, in the past, procedural controllers provided headings:
To separate departing aircraft and arriving aircraft and to provide navigational assistance and approach procedure guidance to aircraft using Direction Finding Equipment (VDF).
Since as quoted above most of todays ATC phraseology and to a large extent procedures were put in place a long time ago, the QGH / ATC use of the VDF is an example of when heading are issued by a controller without any radar.
Furthermore, the phraseology (seldom heard these days);
Fly heading.........vectoring for trafffic.
For identification turn right heading........
Turn right heading......track adjustment
The only possible confusion arrises from the fact that controllers issue headings without giving the reason and thus the pilot is not aware if the heading is to avoid traffic, take a short-cut, position towards the final approach or whatever.
Regards,
DFC