One point worth considering concerning the number of shutdowns/DD&C is conntected to the rate of systems change, which is simply phenominal. You want to upgrade something you gotta shut it down.

To quote a colleague who works there the Maastricht system is "garbage"; again for France, Merde! Guys, you ops controllers are all the same! You do a terrific job but FDP is as much of a job as being a controller - its ^&%$)(g complicated stuff. When a system does not meet your needs offer to make it better, suggest improvements. If 'management' won't let you - write to the chief exec and let him know.......... If he fails to listen then we are doomed!

I like what (I have heard) the Swiss are doing. They are chopping their change programme down to a managable level comensurate with their available resources. What a wonderful idea! If NATS did that we could go back to having one job each instead of my current four! :rolleyes: :=

I work with the SACTA everyday. If you have any practical questions, I may help, but I am not a technician, just an ATC whith basic software/hardware knowledge.

Regards from the sun, :}

Á.

PD. By the way, I like the system. We have two nights ago changed (at the same time in the whole country besides Canary Islands !) from version 3.4 to 3.5, and there were some local problems, but worked well.

One pic:

http://www.plumaveloz.com/Archivos%2...s/image002.jpg

...because we already had the 3.5 version installed in Canarias, Angel :E

Best regards.

I knew it. You told me :}

Besos compi.

Á.

I just love optimism. In the meantime, I'm quite happy with the stuff we already have.

I know about SACTA - its boned!!!

Sorry, I thought that there had only been an adjustment to the 'roadmap'.

Yup, adjusted so much its boned ... Maybe another system for Prestwick, now what's it called again :E

Is is NAS, EDDUS or both.......?

At least when the Manch boys ( and girls ) come to PC they wont have to learn a new system because they will be bringing their old one with them:ok:

Well done NATS. ATC in the 21st Century.

Can we have the locus 16 back please????:mad:

AyrTC

NAS is round 33 years old - if you take the original. Its in 21 (I think?) centres in the USA and has been continually developed to deal with the busiest airspace in the world.

SACTA is 20 years old and has not.

That is why its boned.

Its a bit competing in the Porshe GT series in a Mondeo diesel. :ok:

Love the way that our earstwhile managers have tried to put a positive spin on it - this is good news as the Manchester boys won't have the stress of retraining to add to the stress of moving 200 miles north.

If I were a Manchester controller, I'd be seething - not only would I have to move somewhere I would rather not be but when I got there I'd be using the same old pishy equipment that I'd left behind. So what exactly is the point of moving?

Still, we are told the canteen will be nice :ugh:

FDP through NAS Midi (eliminates the shelf problem), Scottish Mil will probably now get EDDUS, RDP through node. Nice shiny new kit though, workstations and flat screens ;)

BD

Be interesting to see what the airspace design will look like, the shelf may be retained but managed differenly in system terms.

I look forward to the announcements about who is being held accountable over this farce. If any ATCO/ATSA did their job as badly as the people running this we'd be out on our arses.
Brand new flagship centre - one half of NATS' 2 centre strategy and we get to use archaic equipment. :* :* :*

It may be archaic, but from a mil perspective we quite like NAS/EDDUS ;) . Does this mean we will still have to go 'sectorised'? Great for civil ops but a right royal pain in the more 'unpredictable' military environment.

I meant archaic as in old suites, displays and equipment. How long has that kit been at TC?

Sadly it'll still be better than the stuff we have to use at Scottish at the minute (costs too much to use anything from the 1980s onwards you see - especially when we are getting a nice shiny new building and equipment therein......oops).

Still at least we'll all feel valued and recognised when we get our hand-me-downs sent up in an aid parcel.

And what are the plans for the future? Or are we going to be left with the TC/MACC kit??

Not so sure it is any better than what we've got at Scottish at the moment. Sure, the size of the display is better than the dreadful Skyline displays we have but I'd rather see the new place equiped with the BARCO displays we have on the TMA and Deancross. They are more user friendly than the Node displays for a start.

Still, that's progress for you...

Uuummm, its the wiggly amp bit behind the glass which will remain the same in PC. For the ATC user you'll have the new workstations which have large flat screens for the radar and smaller flat ones for auxiliary information. New voice comms interface, new support information systems etc. For ATC it'll Essentially be all new, you can see a prototype of the workstation with all its displays,strip printer etc at Prestwick. Not sure why people think that old equipment from previous units would be re-used.

BD

BD, I suppose the real question should be - does the change of system affect the manner in which we will do business? Certainly for the military, SATCA was going to generate a new CONOPs/MOPs; will this have to be re-visited?