Uk-nats-nats-net

[10W]

I agree that Mode S data is great and enhances safety. If you have rubbish equipment that makes it unhelpful, I'd venture that it us not the fault of Mode S but rather the poorly designed HMI you have to use.

[ImnotanERIC]

AMAN is [for me] pathetic.......crew file plan for transatlantic to EGLL and expect [for example] OCKHAM 2F arrival........maybe over Ireland they prebrief for OCK 2F......on first contact with London they are given OCK 2F........about 50 miles out, the frantic panic calls arrive from Terminal Control "switch to BNN 1D".
End of a night shift for me and after an ocean crossing for them.....by the way....the pilots I speak to do NOT want to shuttle around the London TMA from stack to stack at low level, they would prefer a spin or two further out and at a more economical "mid" level.
Is this progress?

These "frantic panic phone calls" as you put it arise from not knowing if we are going to have the levels in OCK until we see what heathrow approach are going to do with them, 3 or 4 may come off with no delay, followed by 2 or 3 with a landing restriction (which we don't find out about until you transfer the plans at Bedek. Then we count back the levels and let you know what levels or to which stack we can accept the next ones.

If the preference in AC is that you would rather spin them around some way back down L9 or for S22, down SW of us, then please disseminate that information to us via your ops department, because we are of the understanding that you would rather give us the traffic than keep hold of it.

I say this as, during the first couple of years after I validated (05/06), S23 and S22 used to throw a fit when we asked to hold out any further inbounds rather than us doing internal stack swaps in the TMA.
There was then heavy pressure put on us from our Group sup's via your LAS' to do as we do now.

I would much rather do it your way, as just saying no more is easier than talking to north, the south atsa, yourselves and the GS to sort out a stack swap for each aircraft.

Agreed Aman is balls though!!

[jackieofalltrades]

It always find it interesting how people on the internet resort to putting the word fact in capital letters thinking it grants the substance of their post more legitimacy.

I couldn't agree more. It drives me batty to see that. Although it doesn't necessarily mean I disagree with what the poster is writing, it irritates that there is this apparent notion that writing in capitals makes a point of view definitive.

[Roffa]

The problem with holding out in AC airspace is that traffic that does so is then almost never delivered to the inner stacks in time to make their place in the sequence.

Just to confirm, in my experience, almost never.

[anotherthing]

The use of CAPS

Point taken, but the fact (lowercase) is that at the time of posting I was more than a bit hacked off by the attitude of some people who think that they are so superior

[250 kts]

Well I need mode S like a hole in the head

There was always going to be one who thinks Mode S a bad thing, and no real surprise it comes from one of the "barking" brigade.

If you think the labels are big now then wait till iFACTS.

Apologies for the thread drift.