ATC Scenarios
 

What are some of the most common scenarios that require your direct attention?

And, what are some of the uncommon, random, out of the blue scenarios that require your attention?

I'm looking for things like fires on runway, Animals, etc

And finally what is the protocol for such happenings?

Also if anyone knows of a handbook that lists scenarios and actions then that would be a great help.

Thanks in advance

Items requiring immediate attention:
Coffee cup empty.
Relief late for work
Santa Claus requesting clearance
Horses at home have got out of their paddock
Not sure what I'd do if more than one of these occurred at the same time.

Don't forget the EG List.

AdamF92. There is no such book that I am aawre of that details the scenarios you envisage. In fact it would take a very large book indeed to list all the possibilities a trained controller might encounter. E.g. I have had dense smoke across the airfield from funeral pyres nearby! What a controller has to do is to use his training and experience to deal with routine or unusual occurences.

I wonder why you asked such questions?

people will be more willing to help if you tell them why you are asking such questions, and who you are... are you a student? A businesman looking to create robo-controllers? a naughty terrorist?

I am making an Air traffic control game for ipad. Trying to see what situations and scenarios we can throw in to make the game have different degrees of difficulty.

If I'm plugged in - that requires my direct attention.

All of it

All of the time

This might help:

http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAP745.PDF

Call from Caravan Controller:

"The North Shropshire Hunt is on the runway !!!" :eek:

Adam, you need to narrow the scope of the question.

Angels-One-Five has the answer I'd probably use.

All sorts of weird stuff can happen. Because there are many weird things - although I've never encountered a runway on fire - they are not documented. You can't document a procedure for every weird or rare event.

Adam

In thirty odd years of ATC I have had an aircraft refuse takeoff because an aircraft was on final approach....that aircraft on approach was Venus...I have had people rescuing swans( apparently they belong to HM the Queen) ,full blown emergencies including unsafe gear (it wasn't) a helicopter whose pilot had been incapacitated by a golf ball....seriously......a gentleman on a bike crossing the main runway and a RAF police dog which was on the runway and had decided to no longer accept orders from his handler. There is NOTHING that could be written down that included all the experiences that the people who inhabit this board have had.

Good luck ....free IPAD games all round though if you use any of the suggestions :)

How about a fox fast asleep curled up around a lit flush fitting approach light?(Nice 'n warm y'see)
Even after 34 years as an operational controller there were still things occurring which were 'new' to me.

FantomZ...that's a classic!!

Why bother it will be just 'another ATC game' made by someone who has no idea about ATC!

Maybe not a fire but I remember at Edinburgh way back in the early 90's, the electricians liked to check the runway lights at 3 in the afternoon for some reason. Because it was bright daylight, they needed everything on max brightness. One day smoke started rising from the lights inset into the runway and a frantic call from the electrician to switch off the lights. :eek:

Recently we had a report from a pilot that there was an antelope on the runway. There aren't any antelopes in Toronto, we said. Turns out it was a very large hare.

The coffee cup must be kept full at all times though.:ok:

ATC is just a big computer game. Much like PAC man. Keep the things from touching and you get a Cherry.

Not the runway itself, but the grass next to it. That was caused by the fire section setting off a bird scaring cartridge. At least they were in attendance quickly for that one! ;)

Place I worked abroad, we used to have inter-watch contests to see how big a fire we could get going on the airfield with a very cartridge! We never managed to get one to jump a runway.

Amongst others on the runway unexpectedly, I've seen:

Foxes, Hares, Deer, Dogs, Man on bicycle,Drunks returning from a rave, unknown vehicle, kids, sweeper driver deciding to drive in circles and refuse any instruction to move etc etc

Commonly(maybe 2 or 3 times a month) we encounter various emergencies such as:

Rough running engines, 'Wheels locked' indications faulty (usually a bulb blown), student pilot lost…..

You also need to deal with faulty ATC equipment which is quite common too!

Add to that any number of weird and wonderful phone calls / situations etc going on in the background and you can have quite an interesting day over and above the (fantastic) job of actually controlling aircraft!

Much better was to see how long one could bounce around inside the tower,:=

You could even turn up for work to find it not there anymore...