Director

[Golf Alpha Whisky]

Can someone please tell me what the role of "director" is in Air Traffic Control (ABZ) ..... Ground, Tower, Radar, Offshore I am familiar with but what is the purpose of "Director"?

[eastern wiseguy]

At BFS we refer to director when we have split the radar task into Radar 1 and Radar 2 .In our case Radar 1 sets up the pattern and Director does the final close onto the appropriate procedure/landing aid.

[Spitoon]

The guidance from ICAO (and the CAA) is not very clear on this but essentially when approach control becomes too busy for one person to handle traffic in the area at the same time as traffic inbound to the airport the function gets split into two working positions on different frequencies. The one handling inbounds will use the suffix Director. The one handling itinerant traffic in the area will use the suffix Approach...probably...or maybe Radar. Sometimes the one handling inbounds will use the suffix Arrival. Departures may talk to Approach, Radar or Departure. Sometimes when it's quiet the same controller may be doing Director, Approach, Radar and Departure!

Does this help?

The truth is that each airport is different and, to an extent, it's a matter of machoism but ultimately what callsigns can be used is determined by the piece of paper that the CAA issues that allows the ATC unit to transmit on any particular frequency.

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

At larger UK airports the "Approach" function is amalgamated with the "Director" function and all the controllers responsbile for the approach function use the callsign "xxx Director". It's a controller doing his job primarily by the use of radar.

[Golf Alpha Whisky]

Thanks - as a humble PPL I just came across it for the first time recently in RT chatter and it appeared that the director was doing the same job as approach but I didn't know what the distinction was (if any).

[opnot]

Heathrow Director
At MAN we have 3 approach positions , APP South, App north ,Director . As it has been said before , the two APP positions feed acft off the stacks, and transfer them to the director for final vectoring to the ILS

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

opnot - same as Heathrow! But they all use the callsign "Heathrow Director". All three are radar controllers whereas yonks ago the two approach controllers did not have radar and their callsigns were "London Approach". Each had a radar controller ("Director") on the same frequency who directed traffic off the stacks, descended it and handed over to a third director (which was called the No.2) for sequencing on the ILS. Now, even if the old "Approach" position is manned it is still "director" because it's a radar control position as opposed to procedural..

[we_never_change]

Some units (eg. Manchester, Heathrow, Gatwick) pass over flights from the Approach controller to director with the phrase "ABC123, contact Director on frequency 123.456 with callsign ONLY"

However, other's (such as Birmingham) use the phrase "Contact Director on frequncy 123.456" which then means the flight then calls directors & gives them the life story, heading, speed etc..

Howcome, all units with a director facility don't use the 1st format, I presume it's just a case of the Approach controller marking the strip in the relevant places before it gets passed over & it also reduces chit-chat on the director frequency as all flight will check with just their callsign?

WNC

[heathrow, easy life]

Busier units only want the c/s as this gives the final director more control of the frequency, important for accurate spacing and maximising the landing rate.
A/c are also instructed to listen/monitor the departure frequency when being transferred from ground to departures, again to give more control to the departure controller.
Both these methods are particularly important at Heathrow Twr and Apc where capacity is an issue.

[Avman]

In our unit (en route centre) the Director is responsible for making our lives a misery, a task he accomplishes with great skill.