Question for any ATCO from a pilot
 

Please can I ask how quickly can a Swanwick (ie, London) ATCO replay the tape of an R/T exchange between ATC and a pilot? Is it instantaneous, or is there a data protection protocol to be observed, thus some sort of time span involved?
Thanks.

It depends on the urgency of the request. If it is for an initial incident investigation it can take anything from 15 minutes up. If it is for training or competency examination purposes, it takes a bit longer, usually days.

The time required is a result of someone having to find the appropriate RT sample, make an audio clip and transfer it to the appropriate person on the appropriate media.

I can't comment on data protection, but you need to have a good reason if you want to get a hold of an RT recording.

Supervisors at (all?) London towers can replay RT from any frequency in the tower for themselves almost instantaneously, via a quick search function. If you need an actual file recording, though, it is the same as Ninja says.

Thanks guys, very interesting. Hangten, you said that supervisors at all London towers can run an instant replay of an R/T exchange. Do the Swanwick controllers have the same facility?

I'm sure they can as they could do so at West Drayton when I retired over 10 years ago. The facility, including instant replay of radar recordings, was in a separate room and not the ops room.

Not sure about Swanwick but at most ATC units here you can replay any transmission from the last hour or so instantaneously when on position, very useful at times.

Thanks guys (and / or girls). That has answered my question. Cheers.

You can probably find the conversation archived at atclive.net as well not long after it takes place

Not for any London frequencies.

With regard to AC Swanwick - the answer is no, it cannot be done almost instantaneously. For incident investigation it could be retrieved in about 15 mins (at a push); for anything else, it could take several days.

Oh dear, conflicting information here. Climbwithagoodrate, you sound as if you are currently working out of Swanwick, so would you be speaking from a position of authority?

Position of Authority might be pushing it...!

But yes...

PM Sent

Just a bit of boasting here but, yes, here in little, old Muscat, we can play back any landline or RT exchange as soon as it's been said. Very useful for all sorts of reasons.

The guys in Systems are very good. I've never had to wait more than 15 mins for an RT request. Radar replays can be instantaneously arranged - in my experience, quicker than the RT can.

MM