Bigjames
I fly locally and think we get amazing support from ATC who have to deal with Macau traffic, GFS, and other professional local traffic while being extremely accommodating to student pilots who sometimes require three attempts to read back their QNH. My question is how do you roster staff between CLK commercial traffic and local GA? Thanks for the help!
Once an ATCO is rated in the TWR, they need to work all positions. Both runways (Air Movements Control -AMC) two GMC's, Clearance Delivery and a combination CO-ORD - Zone and Flight Information position. The latter can be very busy or very quiet. As a CO-ORD you support the running of AMC and GMC and conduct most of the effort during runway changes. If there is a considerable volume of traffic it can make the position a bit willing. All controllers on shift get cycled through all positions.
Not all Clearance Delivery operators are ATCOs. Aircrew tend to get impatient on this frequency. What is not necessarily evident is that this position has no jurisdiction over airspace. They are purely an intermediary. In most cases, if you call ready, they need to co-ordinate. Simply because there is no radio chatter doesn't mean they are idle. Also, the overriding metering tool is how quickly we can launch traffic from the runway. Average is 90 seconds to two minutes. So stepping on each other on this frequency is quite senseless. In many ways asking for delays is in the same category. Flow control can be imposed at any time. On an average day it is altered 30-40 times. This is the reality of HK departures.
Last edited by psychohk; 20th Apr 2014 at 11:04.