ATC "fools"
Wooblah,
I have read your posts and you come across as a “semua tahu” kind of guy. You describe KLIA ATC as “fools”, other pilots as “jackoons” or “brainless twits”.
I am a lowly tin-pusher – been doing this for over 30 years mostly at Subang ACC. Over this period I have had the opportunity to work in a procedural environment, primary radar, back to procedural when the centre and radar station caught fire, back to radar using a military transportable radar operating in the middle of nowhere to the present where the equipment is pretty neat. I have witnessed heavies joining finals at less than 7 miles while doing a visual approach, seen heavies making approaches for Rwy 33 Subang crossing KL beacon at 4000 instead of 2400.
I also have had the good fortune to sit on the jump seat on all the aircraft MAS operates and in a couple of foreign carriers. I was on the jump seat on one of the last flights into Kai Tak doing the checkerboard IGS approach. I have visited a number of ATC outfits outside Malaysia.
Do KLIA controllers think heavies can do a steep turn at 7 miles? It is a moot point as ATC at Subang ACC handling KLIA arrivals will not instruct an aircraft to such a manoeuvre. We will only clear you for a visual approach – you do the rest. If you are under radar vectors for the ILS, we aim for 10 miles not 7 miles and the intercept angle is between 30 – 45 degrees, not too steep – pretty standard.
I do not doubt you have flown all over. So when you say that KLIA is not as busy as the airports you mentioned, I totally agree with you. We are under no illusions that we are or ever going to be as busy as those airports. During the recent single runway operations at KLIA, our busiest hour only saw 36 – 39 movements per hour, nowhere near those busy single runway airports. Hey, that is cool with us. We can only deliver what we can without infringing on the rules, procedures we have in place. Along the way, some of us add in a mile here or there to cover the housing loan or car loan not fully paid yet.
But when you say that the flow into KLIA is atrocious, the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing, the en-route, approach North and South and KLIA Tower controllers are in the dark and that we should go out and see how the real world operates, I assume you have visited numerous ATC outfits including the ones at Subang and KLIA.
If you had visited us then you would know the following:
- KLIA Twr has a radar monitor that shows all arrivals, complete with callsign, speed and altitude;
- Approach North and South each has a Surface Movement Radar monitor that shows movements on the taxiways and the holding points;
- The FLOW controller sets the landing rate based on a variety of factors and these instructions are transmitted to the en-route controllers. Unfortunately, the FLOW sometimes get screwed up because some pilots think leaving the holding pattern two minutes late has no impact on the flow and yes, controllers adding more than one mile extra. Then there is the weather that causes unplanned for deviations.
We operate “in the dark”? I think not. I think you are the one in the dark but, unfortunately, had the audacity to sweepingly paint us in a bad light in one big bold stroke with uncalled for adjectives (Fair. Pilot – I like your comments about officers and gentlemen) when the subject was really about suspect airmanship blocking the taxiway.
Visit us – this invitation has no expiry date! Veloo will throw in the dinner, I will throw in the drinks.