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View Full Version : why do the ATC tower windows have to lean?


toung
7th May 2010, 05:53
i try to find in many webs but unsuccess.
i think it may be from these possible causes.
1. avoid rain dropping and for good visualisation during rainy
2. avoid reflect from the other side window.
3. easy to see somethings below and close to the tower.
4. prevent reflection of the sun to pilot eyes.

does anyone could help me pls.?

bottom rung
7th May 2010, 06:33
Numbers one to three are all good factors. Number four is not so much of a consideration, however.

ZOOKER
7th May 2010, 07:35
So that at night, the reflections of what is inside the VCR do not impair the ATC staff's view of the airfield.

chevvron
7th May 2010, 08:46
Unless you have downlighters installed in which case you get UFOs all overe the windows!(This happens at Luton and Farnborough)

ZOOKER
7th May 2010, 12:44
chevvron,
I feel your pain.
Here's an idea. Hows about putting a fluorescent tube in a long metal cylinder, (similar to a gun-barrel), that you could mount along the top of each control desk. You could even have a sliding shutter thingy to vary the amount of light emitted.
You could call them barrel lights!
For other areas of the control room which need illumination, I bet Mr Anglepoise makes a suitable appliance.

Minesthechevy
7th May 2010, 12:51
<< You could call them barrel lights! >>

Zooker, you beat me to it. I actually have some barrel lights in a crate somewhere round here waiting for the next time I re-arrange my workshop.

They might well have been, ah, liberated - yes, that's a good word, 'liberated' - from the Tels oddbin at a large airstrip in teh SE of england, but I couldn't possibly comment.:oh:

Sir Herbert Gussett
7th May 2010, 14:38
Am I right in thinking the internal reflection thing is also why the ceilings tend to be painted black?

windowjob
7th May 2010, 18:31
Nearly, you'll find most have dark ceiling tiles. One Tower I worked in had light coloured ceiling tiles and "they" decided to paint them black - huge mistake as the noise level shot up due to the inherent soundproofing being covered in paint!

PotBoiler
10th May 2010, 01:03
You may have noticed how a lot of the older, small airfield type towers (generally quite low in height) have vertical windows - these do function quite well and are cheaper to build. However, they can be subject to a lot of reflections at night - but during the daytime are fine. New towers do however tend to be built with sloping windows and also tend to be taller - sloping windows certainly make for better aerodrome visibility in this case. The more interesting thing is the variety of cleaning devices that are used to clean the exterior of tower windows....

Farrell
10th May 2010, 03:02
in which case you get UFOs all overe the windows!

This made me laugh.

In Salalah, there was one downlighter in particular which when seated to the left of it, use to make it look like something coming in low level from Thumreit.

cosmic
2nd Jun 2010, 19:27
I still work in one of those small Towers that suffer terribly from paralax reflections , particularly when the sun is descending in the summer around 4 o'clock. We tried putting a dark film on the secondary glazing glass, but that resulted in us not being able to see out when it was cloudy or getting dark!! We no longer have secondary glazing in place!!!!!!!!!!:=

Tarq57
3rd Jun 2010, 10:23
cosmic, get some dark film pull-down blinds, sunshades if you like, that can be lowered during the bright periods.
They are best mounted on rails so that movement in the lateral plane is possible, as well as in the vertical.
We have a specially manufactured device for reaching/moving ours. It is called "the claw". Works pretty well.