Courtney Mil,
Agree 100++% your post #50. Getting the ATC peeps (no, not just the ones with 'lumpy jumpers') into the air as often as possible is – without doubt –THE best way to improve understanding and therefore the Service provided. And its quite good fun in its own right too!
Its also worth the aircrew getting into the tower (no, not just to ogle the girls, drink coffee and look out the VCR!) plugged into Zone/LARS for a couple of hrs; better yet, get to Swan or Prestwick for a ˝ day visit (if that’s allowed these days!) and get plugged in there. I do recall one (the only one, actually) such visit from a flying unit (all sqns based there) to West Drayton that did just that. Leg-pulling and smiley faces turned to stern concentration and frank disbelief – allied to rapidly developing deep concern - when sat in front an operational console showing the Airways complex, Vale of York and RAF Lincolnshire ‘in full effect’. Pennies dropped then too.
And the Happy Hour wasn’t bad either!
Last edited by Downwind.Maddl-Land; 10th Feb 2013 at 11:18.