How many planes?

[Jakeyboy5460]

Hi guys. OK, first time poster here. I'm a complete novice to the world of ATC but was wondering just how many planes do you guys control at any one time? I appreciate it's going to depend on sector, time of day, season etc but just a rough guide?

[chevvron]

Always wanted to say this;
About half of them.

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

Nice one Chev!!!! (He's only saying it because it's true!)

Jakeyboy... In civil ATC nothing is laid down in writing, although the system can be adjusted to prevent dangerous overloading. At busy times it can be a dozen, maybe 20 or more....

I don't know about the military - many moons ago they used to have a limit on the number a controller could have on frequency at one time but I don't know if that still applies.

[matspart3]

Small airports outside controlled airspace can actually be some of the busiest. Whilst you're not vectoring or sequencing, it's not uncommon to have 20 or more on frequency continuously on a fine summer's day.

My 'personal best' for Tower is, 'Report Final, number 10'

[AirNoServicesAustralia]

The number on frequency is really irrelevant. My first rating was on a huge procedural sector in Australia that was over 1,000 NM East to West, and over 800 NM North to South (although a lot more than that if you counted the rarely used parts down towards the Antarctic). In that airspace it was normal to have 25-30 aircraft on frequency and it was no problem other than R/T congestion. Whereas I can be doing UAE East sector which is a nasty little 60NM by 60NM sector of crossing arriving, departing and military traffic and be up to my eyeballs with 8-10 aircraft. So as I said aircraft numbers are really an irrelevant figure.

One I would be interested in if they ever recorded it would be average transmissions per minute or something like that as that may be a more accurate indicator of ATCO workload. But then again that doesn't necessarily show traffic complexity.

[divingduck]

My PB for the Muscat FIR at the beginning of the Afghan stoush was 44 talking. 8 of those were tankers with up to 6 fighters in trail, but only the tankers were doing the talking!
BTW the Muscat FIR is now about 20% busier than it was then!

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

<<One I would be interested in if they ever recorded it would be average transmissions per minute or something like that as that may be a more accurate indicator of ATCO workload>>
When I left school in 1961 I was a lowly clerk in the Ministry of Aviation telecomms branch dealing with the provision of telephone circuits to ATC units. To determine the need for types of circuit Tels ran multi-channel traffic analyser equipment which measured the use of R/T and telephone lines for particular ATCD positions. One day my boss said he was amazed when they ran a check on GMC at Heathrow and found that 59 minutes out of 60 was R/T time! When in later life I worked that position I fully understood his amazement! However, there's a world of difference between talking to stuff on the ground and in the air in a busy TMA under radar control...

Lastly, if you want to hear really busy people... listen to Chevvron and his colleagues on a sunny summer Saturday afternoon. It'll blow your mind.

[controllerzhu]

I've found that of en route sectors in the US, the ultra high sectors (FL350 and above) you can pack many aircraft into them since not much is said except hello and goodbye. But our one departure sector where I currently work has 5 SIDs and numerous satellite airports an is mostly like a Chinese fire drill trying to manage the frequencies during pushes. And as others have commented, mix in some weather,bad rides, military activity etc, you can go down the tubes with a small amount of aircraft.

[YRP]

So I realize that many people are saying that number of planes is not the best measure of busy-ness. But I am curious about times when you have 25 to 30 on frequency. Would the controller be able to keep all the planes "in his head" - ie having the call sign, route, altitude all memorized? Or would he/she rely on the radar screen and flight progress strips to track that?

[Track Coastal]

like a Chinese fire drill trying to manage the frequencies

Lurve it!

YRP. HuFac studies have found that people start to load shed at between 6 - 10 under active vectors, based on personal experience in general ATC and sector specific etc and the load shed may be things less stringent RT, not writing on strips, 'missing' stuff (eg 6 - 10 on resolution headings with speeds attached ie "turn left heading xxx, maintain xxx, reduce speed to xxx"). There is some stuff around from research groups like NASA Ames, Flight Safety Foundation etc on this subject.

[ATCO1962]

Yep, we routinely have 25-30 aircraft on a sector freq in Muscat but that only results in frequency congestion as opposed to mind-boggling traffic complexity. As others have indicated, you may only have 5 aircraft but circumstances may cause you to have a meltdown because of the type of conflictions you have, equipment problems, comms problems, etc, etc,etc.

I tell you what, though, if one of my trainees tried to vector 10 aircraft at one time, I'd take him out and shoot him. OOps, am I allowed to say that in this day and age?

[tobzalp]

Me personally, 65, all on headings out of holding patterns. I did this while watching a sector I was not rated on for 20 minutes. Easy. I don't see the problem.

[camelsroamingfree]

Would the controller be able to keep all the planes "in his head" - ie having the call sign, route, altitude all memorized?

It's all in our heads, have you seen the headsets we are using?
They are HUGE to fit our big heads
Strips are mostly used for food ordering anyway....

[Talkdownman]

I have one at a time.
Plus I tell it to shut up.
Even then I don't always get it right.
Sometimes it's left.
Then I have to ring chevvron up for help.

[SINGAPURCANAC]

My PB!
Summer. 40 degrees C,outside temp. Dayli shift 0700-1900. Alone. Flying school. 1(one) C172. Traffic circuits from 0800-1800. Stops only for refuling. Endurance for C172 same as for B777-200ER! Those were the days!