ATC- help need!

[Liliana]

Hi everyone!
I am an air traffic controller in Romania, at Otopeni Tower. I need help!
I am working to some procedures for flight progress strip. I have to change something in those we are working with. All of them are black and white, no differences between them. Imagine how hard is for TWR Controller to follow the right sequence.
Also we are looking for to show to our “” dinosaurs” from administratios office, that is necessary to make our life up there easy and safe.
If some of you could give me some ideas to improve those please help me.
First I would like to know what kind of color you use in arrivals and departures.
If someone could gives me a name of a strip printer producer, one of those which print in color.
Even pictures will be useful too. I mean , an image how your work desk look like.(ground and tower) and maybe an image how are the strips posted on racks.
Please, please! Help me...I am stuck, my ideas are frozen…. :ugh:
Thank you!!!

[Wojtus]

Black/white strips are ok, as long you have colorful holders for them.

[OzATC]

Coloured Strip holders are the solution.:ok:
In Oz - blue for departure:E, yellow for arrival:8, pink for airwork or overfly:p.

[unknown00]

In my country we have different layout strips for arrivals/departures and we have different colours for eastbound and westbound departures/arrivals. Can scan some if will be helpful :sad:

[SM4 Pirate]

In Oz (generally and it's been a while, so forgive me brothers if it's changed),

Blue for Departures
Buff (yellow) for Arrivals
Pink For Air-work/ instrument training flights / transits (ie not a full-stop landing)
Green for circuits (at some towers; otherwise pink)
White for Runway occupied by other things - safety cars, men with tools, mowers, tugs, crossing, etc.

As for the strip display, too far back in the memory banks; but remember a RUNWAY Bay, an arrivals bay in time/sequence order above it and next to the arrival/sequence bay was the departure bay in 'taxi order'. Strip gets put under the runway occupied bay (only when that bay is clear of other strips, in effect) and you put arrivals or departures in there when making the decision between the arrival or the departure.

Two sliders to get strips from ADC to Ground; coord in the middle. Top is Departures going to the Coord and/or ADC and bottom is going from the ADC to the Ground.

Of course then there are the electronic versions; but I'm assuming they come with their own ideas.

[el_draque]

It is amazing and disturbing to realize that Otopeni, the main airport in Bucharest, capital city of Romania, country member of EUROCONTROL, has survived until now, well into 21st century, without proper strip management procedures, without proper low visibility procedures. Must be full of amateurs and dilettants employed as ATCOs, experts, consultants and managers. I have a couple of hints for you:
- first, next time you are going to Miami for a refresher course, try to pay more attention to simulation, maybe you'll learn something. Forget about shopping, I've had enough the other five times you've been there.
- second, try to read you regulations more thoroughly (RCASTA), you will find there what to do when you have vehicle traffic and you don't want to have a runway incursion.
- third, next time when you allow TWO vehicles to proceed onto the runway in low visibility, try to remember the fact and vacate the runway before issuing a take off clearance, otherwise next time you will kill somebody, not like the last time, when you have been just lucky.

[el_draque]

Of course, something should be done. Something happened at otopeni, people were assigned to fix the problems. The laundry should be done intra muros, not to shout your impotence to the world. I know the people, I know the system. They had all the oportunities in the world to learn. They have huge number of consultants doing nothing. Maybe she is right, somebody from outside should come to help them. Remember prince Carol the first? The Germans rescued us that time.

[Liliana]

The problem of the accident from December, it wasn't the strip procedures.
Don't be so cruel. It could be happened everywhere or everyone. For all of us, air traffic controllers, there is only one God.

[unknown00]

Anyone using a system with electronic strips instead of old fashion paper strips for aerodrome control?

[iamhere]

In Zürich the Swiss have been usîng electronic strips in the tower and approach departure environment since about 1992 or 93.

Paper strips are still used in Geneva in coloured holders.

Generally the accepted world wide standard is Blue for departures and Yellow for Arrivals in the approach tower environment. :ok:

(although for some strange reason :confused: Geneva does it the other way around - must be the only place in the world. As Zürich used to use the accepted standard - typical French speaking Vs SwissGerman speaking Swiss I guess - the rest of switzerland does it correctly)

The use of other colours is down to local preferences.

Hope you find a SAFE system which works for your particular airport.

[el_draque]

Of course the problem with the accident was strip management. Only one aircraft in the frequency, and you forget about the vehicles on the runway!!! That means that either you don't have a procedure about strip management (and you don't have, because you are crying for help), either you don't know how to move the strips on the board, or you didn't follow the procedure (RCASTA states very clearly that you have to use a strip for vehicles on the runway during low visibility operations). Strange is that we have only one God when dirty things happens to you. When it comes to share the cheese, your God is greater than the God who protects controllers from the other airports in Romania. Be humble, swallow the bitter pill, learn the lesson and carry on.

[Liliana]

I don't want to have a conflict with you. Please keep your points of view just for you.
But I have to tell this: your words are full of poison. Please,avoid to bite your tongue, your own poison it could kill you !
I hope you are not a controller, because you are, a danger with this education behind of microphone.
I am humble, and I will be, which is very strange for you, I think. Your words and your character are dangerous, more than a poisonous snake.
I am not crying for help. I just try to share some other experiences. To be human and friends in our activity. It seems to be a strange feeling for you. Please try to avoid another answer, it will be worthless.
I know what I have to do, also my colleagues, after this accident.
The only one thing I want you to keep in your venomous mind and soul, is "Errare Humanum Est" - if the "human" term it's mean something to you!
Stop to post ! I will carry on for sure because in my mind and in my air traffic controller conscience, to ask someone to clarify something it's mean to be stupid for 5 minutes, but to have an attitude like yours, it's mean to be stupid for a life time!
By the way! What you are afraid of? Why you don't reveal your identity or your job?
The truth is heavy, therefore few care to carry it!

[Diaz]

Don't you just love pprune- someone asks for help and....

[Tarq57]

Liliana, I don't know anything about your situation, nor the politics apparent in this thread.
We've found that sometimes the simple can be very useful.
Try using some highlighters (colored felt tip pens) to make anything unusual or critical stand out more.
Placing a strip "cocked", or at an unusual angle in the bay will draw attention. (The mind - usually - likes things tidy. The angle will be an irritation, also hopefully a reminder.)
We use (on aerodrome) red holders for inbound, blue for outbound, yellow for local flights, all with white strips, and red strips in a yellow holder to indicate the runway blocked.
Get some red felt pens. Play around with them. Talk with your colleagues and management, get an agreement for how to use them.
You could be waiting a while for new holders or new colored strips, even if you want them yesterday.

[SINGAPURCANAC]

Liliana,
If your company and unit wake up at 21 st century without proper strip management at the biggest intl. airport in country:ugh:, maybe it is time to move somewhere else. E.g. Eurocontrol. There are thousands of your colleagues working there successfully!

[throw a dyce]

Liliana,
I can understand your concern about strip colours.I was trained in the blue-outbound,yellow-inbound mode.I then worked abroad and it was the complete opposite,and very confusing.I would stick with blue-outbound,yellow-inbound and pink for others.Red for runway blockers.Simple and effective.
I would go with the highlighters,or coloured strip holders.Even writing something on the strips would be useful.You can get strip holders with springs in the back.It makes strip loading and unloading a breeze.

[Liliana]

Thank you! Your tips are very helpful! We have rules of course, but we want to change something, not due to accident from December. We are trying to change something in some internal rules, from long time. It is a coincidence that my intervention to ask for some help to light me, it's coming after 30 of December.
The our strips rules are made in 1983, for example.
Anyway many thanks and I took your advise for sure.
Again many thanks!

[djdruid]

Strips used @ EHAM; blue outbound, yellow inbound, black CTR crossing, red local flights (and also attention getter i.e. taxiway blocked), green misc/attention getter (also used for designating tow's during LVP)

Good luck with your efforts! :ok: