P6 Driver
10th Mar 2012, 12:24
The three cooling towers at the former Richborough Power Station will be demolished tomorrow (Sunday 11th March) at 9.00am.
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Situated just south of Kent International Airport (formerly RAF Manston), the towers have, for many years, provided a visual landmark to many hundreds of aviators, both civilian and military. Although Manston is in a fairly distinctive location anyway, I have had cause to be grateful for the assistance the towers have provided on many occasions in my previous work as an air traffic controller there (some years ago).
Picture the scene...
A light aircraft flown by a student pilot over Kent is unsure of position and calls Manston requesting help. Now the pilot could just dial up 121.5 and request a position fix, declare an emergency or radar assistance, but more often than not would call us.
By ascertaining the aircraft heading and using DF we would ask the pilot to report if visual with the three towers. It was easier to see these on a lot of occasions rather than the coastline, which could be indistinct.
Ifvisual with the towers, we would ask the pilot to fly towards them and once overhead the towers, to turn to the north. After a couple of minutes, we asked the pilot to look down and to the left, and report when visual with the lights of Manston's Runway 28, which would have been switched on to maximum brilliance. Once visual, the pilot would position the aircraft into the circuit to land.
Simple, effective and it worked, getting MANY pilots out of a hole in a way that didn't cause embarrassment or further complication.
http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/sad.gif
Situated just south of Kent International Airport (formerly RAF Manston), the towers have, for many years, provided a visual landmark to many hundreds of aviators, both civilian and military. Although Manston is in a fairly distinctive location anyway, I have had cause to be grateful for the assistance the towers have provided on many occasions in my previous work as an air traffic controller there (some years ago).
Picture the scene...
A light aircraft flown by a student pilot over Kent is unsure of position and calls Manston requesting help. Now the pilot could just dial up 121.5 and request a position fix, declare an emergency or radar assistance, but more often than not would call us.
By ascertaining the aircraft heading and using DF we would ask the pilot to report if visual with the three towers. It was easier to see these on a lot of occasions rather than the coastline, which could be indistinct.
Ifvisual with the towers, we would ask the pilot to fly towards them and once overhead the towers, to turn to the north. After a couple of minutes, we asked the pilot to look down and to the left, and report when visual with the lights of Manston's Runway 28, which would have been switched on to maximum brilliance. Once visual, the pilot would position the aircraft into the circuit to land.
Simple, effective and it worked, getting MANY pilots out of a hole in a way that didn't cause embarrassment or further complication.