DFC- no problem with the questions and i will do my best to answer them. However a few caveats--1) i'm only one voice and don't have all the answers! 2) my figures are open to correction but are certainly very close 3) Full answers on some topics cannot be divulged at the moment due obvious reasons
How many movements were filed for that period?
Havent got a clue but wouldnt have been that many. However the stituation that presented itself left no option but to close the tower purely on safety grounds for all traffic.
How many approach controllers etc?
We have about 15 approach controllers in total.None are shannon tower rated. I think two would be on duty working in rotation. Shannon APP is one postion working both arrivals and deps.The most important fact is that shannon APP is run out of the dublin center. So this makes shannon APP irrelevant to any issue with shannon TOWER closing.
Is there an ATSA postion?
NO atsa-in fact its an obligation on the ground controller to operate the airport authority's movements computer-yes the one they use to send out the bills to the airlines.Nothing to do with ATC but we still have to fulfill our written obligations as staff. So no atsa at all.
Was there flow control?
No flow control-its against the IAA religion to put on flow control. Flow control are dirty dirty words as far as the IAA are concerned. However flow control would have been irrelevant anyway as the tower was shut.
There are questions about whether the airlines could have arrived and landed without anyone in the tower but that brings up huge questions about the airlines insurance obligations,whether its legal or not and a whole host of other questions which a court ultimately would be the decider of.
Einn compared to busy UK airports?
Of course einn is not like heathrow etc-its a small backwater airport on the very fringes of europe that just happens to have a very long runway and an IAA control tower. But as for combining air/ground that according the company's own rules is not possible.
Do controllers need a break before every 2 hour period is up?
I think ,but cant say 100%, that most controllers in non peak/busy times will work the full two hours but they definitely need a break after that. Its very important that once the two hour mark is hit that there is a break available (which has not always been the case). Its also not acceptable for the main atlantic diversionary airport to have only one controller on in case of incapacitation.
Does shannon require both ground and air open at such times?
Yes-company rules.
To be honest its very disappointing that such a situation would develop in the first place. A situation totally out of the controllers hands but most definitely within managements. A situation that left the one tower controller on duty in a terrible postion. As air traffic controllers we want to work-we want to control the aircraft and provide the service we are good at and we dont want to be in these situations but a time comes when you have to say sorry i cannot in all conscience work in such a situation, i cannot tolerate being put in a situation where rules will be broken, and safety potentially compromised and its our professional duty to protect safety ,first and foremost, and everything after that if safety is compromised, or has the potential to be compromised is irrelevant. But the most telling thing of all was that it was mangement who shut the tower on safety grounds. They obviously realised anything else would mean violating their own rules.
Yours as ever
OCK1F