LCY Remote Tower
Joined: Apr 2018
Posts: 244
Likes: 23
From: UK
To them ATC it's purely a tool that allows an airfield to operate. You shop around and you get the best deal available. Hate the game, not the player.
Joined: Nov 2005
Aviation Qualifications: PPL
Posts: 12,457
Likes: 368
From: Wildest Surrey
Joined: Nov 2005
Aviation Qualifications: PPL
Posts: 12,457
Likes: 368
From: Wildest Surrey
Farnborough could do the APS using existing equipment considering the likely movement rate, however Southend would be a more likely candidate as Riveroak want 24/7 ops and Farnborough don't work those hours whereas Southend do.
As for a remote tower, Farnborough would be a non starter, there just isn't room to install all the huge 360 deg VDUs necesssary; it may look a huge building from the outside but about 3 quarters of the accomodation is occupied by the aerodrome authority, not ATC.
As for a remote tower, Farnborough would be a non starter, there just isn't room to install all the huge 360 deg VDUs necesssary; it may look a huge building from the outside but about 3 quarters of the accomodation is occupied by the aerodrome authority, not ATC.
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 531
Likes: 38
From: Southern England
.and with what logic?
Remote radar is far less demanding technology wise and well established with far more options but if I was placing an ATC contract for my soon to re-open airport I'd want a single contract with one supplier.
Of course if I was soon to re-open an airport in this market I'd probably not be throwing a lot of money at capital investment in a brand new remote tower unless either the physical tower needed a lot of money to return it to use or there was a significant incentive and that is definitely beancounter territory.
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 282
Likes: 85
From: UK
Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 51
Likes: 0
From: Rainsville
London City airport replaces control tower with virtual system
Air traffic controllers 70 miles away to oversee landings in UK first
April 29, 2021
https://www.ft.com/content/1c3d319f-...2-20d9270402de
London City has become the first airport in the UK to install a virtual control tower, putting all operations in to the hands of controllers based more than 70 miles away on the south coast of England.
Management at the 30-year-old airport has spent the past few years installing 16 cameras and sensors mounted on a 50m mast to provide a live 360 degree view of the runway, taxiways and aprons, as well as the surrounding airspace.
The feed is passed through fibre optic cables to the control centre operated by Nats, the country’s main air traffic manager, in Swanwick, Hampshire. The live footage, an audio feed and radar information is used to control aircraft on the ground at the airport and give them permission to take-off and land.
The new technology at London City was officially unveiled on Friday but has quietly been in use since late January. It was originally scheduled to go live in 2019.
Tower controllers rely on the human eye to manage aircraft movements on the ground and at the very start and end of flights, when aircraft are on final approach or about 30 seconds from the runway.
Air traffic controllers at Nats handle all other UK traffic. The Swanwick centre’s main roles are to manage all high-altitude aircraft crossing through English and Welsh airspace and handle all flights below 24,500 feet as they fly in and out of all of London’s airports, including City. Nats has a second control centre in Scotland.
The new system at City is built by Saab, the Swedish aerospace group, and has already been installed at some of Sweden’s airports. The technology allows controllers to magnify objects up to 30 times, and the screens can be overlaid with an “enhanced reality view” including information such as call signs, altitude and speed of aircraft.
“Digital tower technology tears up a blueprint that’s remained largely unchanged for 100 years, allowing us to safely manage aircraft from almost anywhere, while providing our controllers with valuable new tools that would be impossible in a traditional control tower,” said Juliet Kennedy, operations director at Nats.
The biggest challenge could be reassuring the public that removing sharp-sighted controllers from the airport is safe. But Alison FitzGerald, chief operating officer at London City, said the technology was “proven” and had more than a decade of research and live trials behind it.
“The system is designed to safely manage any equipment failures with backups available if required,” she said.
If one static camera fails then the image can be replaced by one of the mast’s tilting zoom cameras, while there are back-up screens at Nats in case of a failure there, she said.
She added that “two entirely independent, private fibre network connections carry the camera images”.
The 30-year-old analogue control tower in the London Docklands will be redeveloped as part of a modernisation plan at the airport, parts of which have been delayed by the financial impact of the pandemic.
Passenger numbers fell more than 80 per cent to 905,000 last year, a period when the airport was closed for three months.
The remote technology has the potential to significantly improve efficiency, and Nats has estimated it could cut costs of managing traffic into and out of an airport by 20 to 30 per cent if rolled out across several sites.
Joined: Nov 2005
Aviation Qualifications: PPL
Posts: 12,457
Likes: 368
From: Wildest Surrey
Here you go...
London City airport replaces control tower with virtual system
Air traffic controllers 70 miles away to oversee landings in UK first
April 29, 2021
https://www.ft.com/content/1c3d319f-...2-20d9270402de
London City has become the first airport in the UK to install a virtual control tower, putting all operations in to the hands of controllers based more than 70 miles away on the south coast of England.
The new technology at London City was officially unveiled on Friday but has quietly been in use since late January. It was originally scheduled to go live in 2019.
Tower controllers rely on the human eye to manage aircraft movements on the ground and at the very start and end of flights, when aircraft are on final approach or about 30 seconds from the runway.
Air traffic controllers at Nats handle all other UK traffic.
London City airport replaces control tower with virtual system
Air traffic controllers 70 miles away to oversee landings in UK first
April 29, 2021
https://www.ft.com/content/1c3d319f-...2-20d9270402de
London City has become the first airport in the UK to install a virtual control tower, putting all operations in to the hands of controllers based more than 70 miles away on the south coast of England.
The new technology at London City was officially unveiled on Friday but has quietly been in use since late January. It was originally scheduled to go live in 2019.
Tower controllers rely on the human eye to manage aircraft movements on the ground and at the very start and end of flights, when aircraft are on final approach or about 30 seconds from the runway.
Air traffic controllers at Nats handle all other UK traffic.
And aren't there ANSPs other than NATS who handle some UK traffic?
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 282
Likes: 85
From: UK
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 1,652
Likes: 138
From: 50+ north
Under normal circumstances probably yes as the mast (173 FT AAL) penetrates well in to the 09/27 Transitional Surface. However due to other obstacles, the resultant 5.5 DEG GP, and a very high DH for the ILS IAPs, no apparent change.
Joined: Dec 2020
Aviation Qualifications: ATCO
Posts: 298
Likes: 237
From: Home
Originally Posted by chevvron
That huge mast so close to the runway carrying the cameras must surely affect the iap minima.