I'm not biting pal.

Tower and Area are completely different and shouldn't be compared.

Tut tut. Go back to bed :ok:

quick caviat to the lad quearing the flying time offered by nats

there is a 2 week BA course at the end of your 9 months at college where you will have the chance to take a couple of fan flights around europe, not easy to get in this day and age.

sure i will see you at the college

quick piece of advice start reading the MATS part 1 and the ANO rules section asap will give you a sound knowledge base for the basic course exams.

cheers Roni:ok:

Are these jumpseat flights? :)

Affirm :ok:

Where can I find the MATS Part 1? Is it available on the CAA website?

Cheers for the information on the flights Roni. Looking forward to them

Si

Here you go....

http://www.caa.co.uk/application.asp...=detail&id=222

Well that will keep me busy! 430 pps!:)

Thanks Gonzo, looks like it'll make some light bed-time reading! 430 pages, slightly hefty! Lets get cracking then! :)

Si

Hmph
 

Seems if I do get in I'd prob have to go the area route -website says you need to be 20 to get a radar license, so for me that would allow me to start early 2007 and finish when I'm 20.

Wonder how that works.

When will you be 20? You need to be 20 to hold a radar rating (should that be a 'surveillance' rating in new-speak?), but you don't get one of those until you validate on a radar position at your unit. This could be anything up to a couple of years after you leave the college in Bournemouth, whether that be at an aerodrome where you validate in Tower first, or at an area unit, where it can just take a bloody long time. If you end up working at a tower-only unit, you'll never hold a radar rating, so it's not an issue.

April 2 2008 (Yeah poor little young me.)

Of course Aerodrome seems a lot more appealing - as Simon said you get to see the aircraft you're controlling. But NATS stream about 80% of their intake down the Area route so I hear.
Personally I love area, especially TC. I was flying online just a short while ago and I think the Area controllers have a fun job, giving climb/descent/vector etc instructions. I think I like it because it's very varied and there seems to be an big element of creativity in it. I flew a BIG3B into LL but ended up being directed elsewhere due to me being to high, then orbited round to fly a long downwind due to other traffic coming in which was scheduled for arrival before me. Coming from a design background I love it, it's so creative.
Area is cool. :ok:

Kirk

Hate to ruin your plans Kirk but that's all Approach radar you're talking about there, not Area!

But area is surely similar? (In the sense that the job is to vector/climb/descend... aircraft no?)

Nope, quite different. Area control is about funnelling large numbers of aircraft along airways and making sure that they get their climb and descent at appropriate times, whilst dodging slower aircraft on the same route, and other aircraft from the opposite direction and crossing tracks. The aircraft generally don't change direction that much, although they require vectors to maintain separation against other aircraft. To process the high volumes of traffic in an area control sector requires a lot of procedural planning and separation, whereas approach radar is more of a close-in knife-fight with fewer aircraft, but using radar more and working to closer tolerances of separation than an area controller, using vectors and speed control to keep a finely tuned sequence moving without wasting any space.

If I make area sound like more of a blunt art than approach, well don't let me mislead you. Whilst approach radar requires more finesse and precision, area is the harder discipline to master, and has it's own particular rewards.

Don't think I'd describe ATC as 'creative'. Not deliberately anyway!

TC Area
 

Hi guys
If and when you pass at the college there are two routes that an area controller can go.

One is the one described by Rodan, En-route control which is at LACC (Swanwick!). :=

The second (and my personal favourite) is the departures task done by area controllers at TC (West Drayton). :sad:

As an area controller at TC we do the same job as the Approach guys except we take the planes the moment they are released from Tower and vector, speed and climb them till they get to a point where we can hand them off to the en-route guys who will eventually take them out of the UK airspace. As well as doing this we also control (at the same time) aircraft arriving into TC airspace and vector them to the nominated holds for the london airports. (descend them in the hold and then hand them off to the approach guys.

If it gets too busy we split the sector and deal with either departures or arrivals.

Hope that adds to your understanding of Area.

TFB :ok:

Thankyou TFB. I was a bit confused yes, glad you cleared it up.

Kirk