Swanwick TRUCE
 

I have permission from the kind moderator (PPRuNetowers) to post the following;

Swanwick TRUCE

TRaining for Unusual Circumstances and Emergencies


Commercial pilots are warmly welcomed to attend. The new season commences in September.

TRUCE sessions take place in the afternoon and are a licence requirement for all UK ATCOs. For Swanwick controllers there will be both classroom discussions and time in the simulator which is located at our corporate headquarters in Whiteley, Hampshire.

Over past years we have hosted many commercial pilots and all that I am aware of have commented how useful their attendance has been. For our ATCOs, they get to hear how commercial pilots deal with emergency situations first hand and pilots can gain a better understanding of what we do should they call PAN or MAYDAY. Expect to take part within the classroom discussions and the simulator exercises. We are also normally able to arrange an Operations Room visit before TRUCE commences

Sensible expenses can be claimed for those travelling from the London area or equivalent distance

I cannot over emphasise how useful having commercial pilots attend is for the participants!

If you think you might have a spare day, please personal message me so that I can send you more details. include an email address, brief details about you, who you fly for and what you fly. I can then arrange for more information to be sent out including the dates.

Are we still attending under our own steam, or have NATS managed to free up some petrol money as in years past?

:ok: :ok::ok:

Can Mr Truce confirm? This wasn't the case when I did one last spring. Which incidentally was a very interesting day out.

I can confirm that we will honour reasonable requests. You will need to get a VAT receipt for us to collect and a form which we will send to be completed. If you calculate the distance from Stansted to Swanwick return, that is the likely maximum that could be claimed.

This season we will be combining TC and AC TRUCE as far as the classroom element is concerned. We are also making local arrangements to ensure where at all possible, that we can get pilots 'plugged in' to the live operation before a TRUCE afternoon. Might be a long day for some, but very worthwhile from past comments.

Feedback from our controllers in the past has mostly indicated that pilot participation is essential, thus my advertising campaign.

If any of you can think of other methods of promotion, please PM me.

Having attended these sessions I would heartily recommend them to any pilot. A real eye opener to learn what is and isn't visible to the controller and to challenge each others assumptions. All conducted in a positive and convivial way.

I would agree with what has been said before regarding pilot participation....its VERY well received!
Getting pilots and controllers together is always useful and dispels a lot of the myth and rumour about what goes on at each end of the mic!!! Had a pilot (from a certain Midlands based airport) plugged in with me once on my sector a while back and he was amazed at the issues we faced in trying to get him southbound on his merry way.
He left with a MUCH better knowledge of what the sector issues and constraints were and I believe he got a LOT out of it!!

This is a good step but it still amazes me why this is not embraced to a far greater degree by NATS and the airlines? I know it ultimately costs money from someone's pocket but the value in better pilot/controller understanding is huge!

As an ATCO I cannot stress just how beneficial we find it when we have pilots present for our TRUCE. Please volunteer, I'm sure you will also find it equally as rewarding too.

Mr TRUCE … I am assuming this is is a Licensing requirement for Civil ATCOs? Just checking, you understand!! :cool:

A great initiative. We always valued Mil Aircrew visits to RAF Towers/ATRCUs, and I'm been convinced it helped things from BOTH sides of the headset.

Footnote: Although it wouldn't happen nowadays, we had a Lightning pilot who [when Duty Pilot] became so involved and interested in the workings of ATC that eventually he was allowed to do a couple of GCA talk downs with his own sqn pilots … pre-briefed, and VERY closely supervised, during a very quiet period. I'm pleased to note he didn't find it easy!!!

Unbelievable!!
An offer to attend what would be a highly informative day and the first reply is asking about can we claim any money to go.

is a free lunch provided too
 

just asking, in view of the previous post.

Free lunch....BLIMEY.....what is one of those!

Nice subsidised restaurant that overlooks the lake though.

Seriously, can I thank all of you that have got in contact and to those that have yet to send me a personal message.

MPN11, yes it is.

zonoma, I totally agree and we are doing all we can. The good news for me is that once pilots attend, they want to come back again!

If you are a commercial pilot reading this, then PLEASE get in touch.

No need to claim travel expenses if you live in the right place. Mr TRUCE might provide a door-to-door taxi service;)

'No need to claim travel expenses if you live in the right place. Mr TRUCE might provide a door-to-door taxi service'

You would need to bring a bone dome and check your life insurance is up to date!:)

Ipaq , in fairness, this was probably the question asked by a lot of controllers when fam visits / flights were resumed.

Again thanks to all the pilots that have made contact with me so far. Some very interesting people may well be attending and a few 'new' operators for us as well!

Without wishing to hijack Mr. TRUCE's thread, Heathrow ATC are always looking for pilots to attend the TRUCE in the Heathrow 360 degree simulator. It's in Autumn this year, PM me if anyone is interested.

Oooooh for one of those where I work!

If anyone still has a copy or can access it on-line, BALPA LOG magazine Feb-March 2013 issue, pages 32 & 33. There is a report by a Monarch pilot detailing his trip to Swanwick and the TRUCE day he attended. I can email you a copy of the article if you PM with an email address. This explains what we do, why and how important it is to have pilot participation.

MR TRUCE

I've been to your TC and AC Truce sessions for a few years but I haven't seen your dates yet.
Will Clare be sending the usual email with available dates or do I PM you as indicated in your first post?