Passing ATC clearances
 

Can anyone throw any light on this please ? Does an ATC clearance passed to an aircraft by R/T have to be spoken by an ATCO or can it be done by an ATCA ? I may be wrong but I believe the Manchester Delivery service was until recently handled by an ATCA in the tower and that was all they did. No push and/or start clearance, just ATC clearance only. The reason I ask is that the tower frequency at my local airport is getting close to saturation point at certain times and I thought if an ATCA could take on the clearance delivery role, it would relieve some pressure from the Tower ATCO. The traffic level and taxiway/ runway configuration would not justify a GMC at present.

Any thoughts ?? Ta.

There are certain circumstances in which a clearance can be passed by someone other than a controller. There are rules to be followed and it's probably got to be approved by the CAA. But the short answer is it can be done.

You could employee a FISO ;) (FISOs can definately pass ATC clearances on behalf of ATC units),

As I understand it one airfield also approached SRG to see if FISOs could work a GMC frequency - don't know what the outcome was though. My guess is that it was a non-starter, not least because if every ATC unit did it they'd be a lot of unhappy ATCOs!

Place I used to work employed several Student ATCOs and an ATCA. Very frequently a student was doing AIR, the ATCA was doing GMC (virtually his permanent job) and a licenced and fully valid ATCO was doing APC wearing a headset - and supposedly "monitoring" the other two on his licence. Hopefully things have changed nowadays......

In this wonderful world of accountability, if an ATSA passed a clearence, the ATCO would have to trust the correct clearence was being passed verbatim.
So in the long run it may not be much of a benefit.
I am not suggesting an ATSA can't be trusted, as they are worth their weight in gold.
As HEATHROW DIRECTOR suggests, its all down to how much liabity an ATCO is prepared to have on his licence.
:}

TGU
 

Do it all the time in "area". Incoming phone call taken by Assistant, clearance issued by controller, passed by assistant on phone...probably to assistant on other end. Never had a problem with competence.
Similarly, clearances are issued to FIR FISO, who will transmit to A/C on their Freq. If you treat staff with respect and give them the necessary training and qualification we may be able to consign the us-and-them officers-and-men culture to the dustbin of out-of-date practices.
In your case standard clearances such as SIDs could be passed, it would still remain the controller's task to check the strip......but R/T workload may benefit greatly.
Good Luck.

Thanks for your observations folks. I don't work in ATC, I'm just a frustrated wannabe with an opinion on various ATC matters. I hope the airport in question comes up with a solution before too long. It is expecting its busiest season yet and my magnanimous heart really feels for the tower controller at times !

TGU:ok: