Two points:
1) What about lovely Dammam "Radar"?
Had a chat with some friends that ride their machines through Dammam's claimed part of space recently, and they are astounded at how low the quality of Dammam's "controllers" are. They apparently sound like they are fresh out of school - let alone ATC school - and just don't "get it". Case in point...
Eastbound, Bahrain clears you down into their airspace, la? Dammam takes over (usually after a reminder call to ask for lower..refer to point #2 below).
WHY must Dammam, each and every time, babble on and on about the precise position in space the flight is, relative to the KFA VOR? "Roger you are eyedentifieed forty-seven miles west of Keelo Fax Elpha (WHO CARES!!!) (and this even when the flight isn't "Direct KFA")...in the meantime, the lower limit Bahrain cleared them to is (was) maybe 200 feet to go, and while the crew are patiently waiting to be cleared lower, this knucklehead yaps on and on about you are 34.528 NM west of some point they think is their "Star Gate" zone...engines either spooling up (with a new peelot) or levelling off and slowing down as they approach said altitude...
Dammam needs to revisit how it works, because it's broken.
Time-warp to the future: "ABC123 identified. Descend 7000 QNH 1013" Wow. Amazingly hard, la?
2) Why must most pilots remind controllers they are approaching whatever altitude limit, and have to request higher (lower) altitudes? Are they (the controllers) simply too understaffed to the point they don't see the altitude read-outs, and therefore continue the climbs (descends) as if they are step-climbs (descends)?? And I don't mean this when the skies are crowded, or another flight would interfere with a continued climb, etc... This happens CONSTANTLY.
3) (A bonus point)...why is there such a need to turn flights inbound for Bahrain towards Kuwait (for example) every evening during rush-hour? What happened to co-ordinating speeds better between the various ATC units (and not just Dammam, either!)...or flow-control...or stacking them over KFA (hey THAT place again!) or whatever? I heard the main user of Bahrain carries lots of extra petrol around due to the "Shiraz 1 Arrival" or the "Doha 2 Bravo Arrival 30 R". Would make a LOT more sense to manage the flow a wee bit better, chaps. Maybe plunk this on the bosses desk?? Any other ideas??
Note all three points here involve RT at some point.
Back to the races...Happy trails.
Good thread, by the way.
