Climb or vector?

[Gort]

I have done a search and could not fin anything on the subject so I will throw it out for discussion.
My question is really applicable to terminal airspace. Would a pilot prefer a vector 10 or 20 degrees off course for traffic and kept climbing/descending or would they prefer to stay on flight planned route or SID/STAR and leveled off? Thoughts?

[Chilli Monster]

Wearing my pilots hat - climb every time.

Wearing my ATCO hat - the quicker I climb 'em, the quicker I can give 'em to somebody else!

[fireflybob]

As usual Chilli Monster is 1000 % correct - as a pilot I would rather have a continuous climb. We are quite used to all the headings - I call it "weaving" in the climb!

[ImnotanERIC]

"weaving", i like that, a good way to describe it.

[Married a Canadian]

Depends on the type of aircraft...especially if you are trying to climb/descend to keep clear of other traffic arriving or departing.

A fully loaded A340 on a hot sunny day is not likely to give me a good rate of climb to allow for creative vectoring...or weaving as it has been called.

[Canoehead]

Generally,.......jets turn & climb, props on course and level off.

[Ozzie ATCO]

Time-permitting, I like to give pilot's the option. If one suits you better, word it in a such a way as to 'sell' this to the pilot. I find that even with the same company and type it's surprising how often what I assume the crew would like is not the option they take (based on my experience with that ACFT or operator). I may assume the pilot would probably prefer a vector, but in the case of the A340 example earlier, a maintain may be OK as the ACFT simply will not reach the higher level for another 15NM anyway, by which time the confliction has passed and the ACFT never had to actually reconfigure for level flight.

Using this system, you will soon come to learn what the users in your airspace would prefer.

Eg. I incorectly assumed that a MED1 (medical priority if this is an Australian ATC term) jet wanted best speed, but the passenger was a spinal patient, and in fact the jet was happy to wait provided he could avoid turbulence. Decompresion Illness (the Bends) is another case where levels flown will have priority over speed or headings. The crews do not always think to tell us what they really want leaving us to make reasonable assumptions.

[Spamcan defender]

As a terminal controller I try to give everything continuous climbs/descents but more often than not someones always going to be stepped under/on top of someone else.
Most pilots are switched on to the fact that the TMA is a busy place and understand the situation. If I'm going to be step-climbing someone I usually say so, so they can adjust their rate of climb accordingly OR in some cases clear them up, specifying a rate of climb :D.

In a perfect world we would have constant descents from TOD point to runway and vice-versa but alas, with traffic the way it is thats not going to happen (unless its a saturday :p:p)

Spamcan