JG1
3rd Jun 2010, 14:13
'ATNS are experiencing an increase in radio traffic at the major South African airports relating to the CTOT’s generated by pilots. The request for the issue and update of CTOT’s from pilots applies undue pressure to ATC’s. This increase in traffic as well as the pressure from pilots severely impacts safety as it congests the radio frequencies and causes distractions to the ATC.'
So now the tail wags the dog. What did they think was going to happen when they introduced a system which is unneccesarily restrictive and causes delays to flights out of thin air, and doesnt make sense a lot of the time.
Shame the ATC's are now under pressure because their radio's are too busy. And its the pilot's fault. This while ATNS sometimes sees fit to have one poor ATC running delivery, ground and tower all at the same time at ORTIA?
Speaking of pressure, what of the pilots who have an all-day schedule to run back and forth across the land? When your turnarounds are 30 minutes and you manage to get the pax off, the cleaners on and done, the catering replenished, the aircraft refuelled, snags fixed, the next set of pax boarded and seated, all sorts of little problems ironed out, the mandatory safety announcements completed etc etc all done in record time; only to be told that you have a CTOT which is now 26 minutes after your scheduled departure time? Thats just eaten 87% of your next turnaround. Add a couple of them up and you might be getting out of FDP on some tighter schedules.
Now I can NEVER leave early if I have got it all together and am ready to roll ten minutes before schedule in CPT because I am anticipating a longer turnaround in JNB. Because the computer says I can't.
Lets have a brief look at this new system. 'One of the fundamentals that has changed is that the ATC’s in the control towers no longer have the user rights in the system to manage (issue and update) CTOTs (Calculated Take off Times; or Slot Times) for aircraft.'
So lets take for example for a flight from CPT to JNB. The CPT CTOT is calculated to have you arrive in JNB at a certain time to slot you in for landing in JNB. But you can go 5 minutes before the CTOT or 10 minutes after it. And you can fly any speed you like. So it's hardly precision is it? The speed used in the calculation is an average of your block times on that route. Guess what. When I'm late I fly faster to try and catch up so there's the calculation out of the window. And when I get near JNB there happens to be several aircraft (charters, regional traffic) who appear over the horizon without ever having a CTOT and must be slotted into the landing pattern so my delay is extended further. Several times we've been delayed waiting for the CTOT, flown standard speeds to JNB only to be put into the hold at Ested? WTF? :ugh:
And if I'm flying somewhere like Livingston or Windhoek or even George where there is no huge congestion to land, why do I need a CTOT to take off from JNB? Because the system demands one? What about standard DF? Even after a perfect CTOT departure from JNB to CPT the ATC still applies old style controlling to my speed to get all inbound traffic to CPT in a logical landing sequence.
The old system worked well, why change it to an inflexible one which doesn't work as well? Is this another example of a 'big spend' which was 'neccessary' but part of which was paid under the table?
A new system which results in inefficiencies, regardless of where they occur in the system, whether it be to the poor ATC's whose radios are congested, or the poor pilots who are forever playing catchup, is a cr@p system.
Lets see who cracks first, because the pilots are going to continue moaning, on the radio. The more moans, the more overload, the quicker this cr@pola is thrown in the bin.:yuk:
So now the tail wags the dog. What did they think was going to happen when they introduced a system which is unneccesarily restrictive and causes delays to flights out of thin air, and doesnt make sense a lot of the time.
Shame the ATC's are now under pressure because their radio's are too busy. And its the pilot's fault. This while ATNS sometimes sees fit to have one poor ATC running delivery, ground and tower all at the same time at ORTIA?
Speaking of pressure, what of the pilots who have an all-day schedule to run back and forth across the land? When your turnarounds are 30 minutes and you manage to get the pax off, the cleaners on and done, the catering replenished, the aircraft refuelled, snags fixed, the next set of pax boarded and seated, all sorts of little problems ironed out, the mandatory safety announcements completed etc etc all done in record time; only to be told that you have a CTOT which is now 26 minutes after your scheduled departure time? Thats just eaten 87% of your next turnaround. Add a couple of them up and you might be getting out of FDP on some tighter schedules.
Now I can NEVER leave early if I have got it all together and am ready to roll ten minutes before schedule in CPT because I am anticipating a longer turnaround in JNB. Because the computer says I can't.
Lets have a brief look at this new system. 'One of the fundamentals that has changed is that the ATC’s in the control towers no longer have the user rights in the system to manage (issue and update) CTOTs (Calculated Take off Times; or Slot Times) for aircraft.'
So lets take for example for a flight from CPT to JNB. The CPT CTOT is calculated to have you arrive in JNB at a certain time to slot you in for landing in JNB. But you can go 5 minutes before the CTOT or 10 minutes after it. And you can fly any speed you like. So it's hardly precision is it? The speed used in the calculation is an average of your block times on that route. Guess what. When I'm late I fly faster to try and catch up so there's the calculation out of the window. And when I get near JNB there happens to be several aircraft (charters, regional traffic) who appear over the horizon without ever having a CTOT and must be slotted into the landing pattern so my delay is extended further. Several times we've been delayed waiting for the CTOT, flown standard speeds to JNB only to be put into the hold at Ested? WTF? :ugh:
And if I'm flying somewhere like Livingston or Windhoek or even George where there is no huge congestion to land, why do I need a CTOT to take off from JNB? Because the system demands one? What about standard DF? Even after a perfect CTOT departure from JNB to CPT the ATC still applies old style controlling to my speed to get all inbound traffic to CPT in a logical landing sequence.
The old system worked well, why change it to an inflexible one which doesn't work as well? Is this another example of a 'big spend' which was 'neccessary' but part of which was paid under the table?
A new system which results in inefficiencies, regardless of where they occur in the system, whether it be to the poor ATC's whose radios are congested, or the poor pilots who are forever playing catchup, is a cr@p system.
Lets see who cracks first, because the pilots are going to continue moaning, on the radio. The more moans, the more overload, the quicker this cr@pola is thrown in the bin.:yuk: