Cheerful Radar
 

A friend mentioned to me recently that a particular colleague of mine always seemed very chirpy on the R/T - so we thought we'd ask all you Ppruners if there were any ATC units/agencies that always seem to be cheerful when you call? Who (if anyone) do you really enjoy talking to?

(And I don't mean who gives you the best/worst service - just who sounds happiest!!)

The bird with the husky voice at LTN makes my day every time !! :D :D

Farnborough LARS - very cheerful (and helpful) chappies!

.....oh, and the least cheerful, some right misery at Elstree! (not radar, I know, but very miserable!)

There is an (older?) chap on London freq who is about the second/third person I talk to heading out of Stansted who is amazingly chirpy. It is always a pleasure to talk to him. There is also a chap on the ground freq at EGSS who is scarily chirpy.

Makes the day happier - thanks guys and gals.

(And to the very very few ATC given to sarcarsm - it doesn't benefit anyone thanks.)

[ 17 October 2001: Message edited by: Oleo ]

Theres two at EDI ATC, both english, the one with the far south accent is lovely she makes my day!!!! ;) ;) ;)

Is the miserable easten european sounding man still at Liverpool, he must rate as a contender for the Victor Meldrew award :p
On the other hand Manchester radar are always helpfull no matter how busy they are, unless you want a radar info service :D

There's a guy on 135.05 always sounds really happy.
Essex Radar/ Director, them two, well do they ever have time off? Its always the same chaps! You always come to expect them, and feel you know them because its always the same cheery sing-song tone of voice on 120.62.
Course, they usually tell us to do the opposite of what we want to do, we are just waiting for the immediate "number 1, speed 180" but its kind of nice and reassuring to come home to.

Both Farnborough Radar and Brize Radar get my vote for being both cheerful and helpful.

My last flight through Brize zone went along the lines of :
Me : "... request transit through your zone ..."
Brize : "... can you accept a climb to 3000 feet?"
Me : "... negative ..."
Brize : "... can you accept vectors? "
Me : "... affirm ..."
Brize then diverted me about 5 miles off my planned track, then put me back on it after the conflicting traffic (BAe Hawks) had left and then finished with a "no further traffic in my zone, maintain 2000', resume own navigation"
It kept the nav. workload of this student pilot nice and low (thanks...!)

---Mik

High up the list must be the Antipodean Maastricht controller who offered us a set of Encyclopaedia Britannica (check spelling!) one night, as he had just got married........and his wife seemed to know everything. And, of course, anyone who still 'chugalugs'.

G'day mate, if you're listening.

Hey,if a man speaks in a forest and his wife is not there to hear him....

... is he still wrong?

Oleo
By definition.
Sam

I know this thread was supossed to be about cheery ATC units, but it works the other way too.
There is a klm pilot that flys into my unit who is always polite and happy. No matter how busy and stressful a day it has been, he always brings a smile not only to my face but also to any other "girlie" that happens to hear him!!!
A big thanks to him, whoever he is!!
;)

Ahh.. the heady days when Captain French used to fly BEA 1-11s into Heathrow. Nobody is/ was/ ever will be as cheerful as he. Just love to meet him.

We get used to pilots voices on the R/T and there are some I've spoken to for many years who still cheers me when they call. Mildly humourous exchanges also relieve the boredom, even "head north, speed south" in response to "turn right heading 360, speed 180" really helps brighten the day.

How about the 'Pub Singer' on the Heathrow ATIS?

Most helpful in my experience is Solent Radar, they routinely go out of their way to offer clearances or information that might be helpful, even if you never asked for it. Several times I've declared routes around their zone to be offered radar control through it, saving me a fair bit of time.

For the light aircraft pilots amongst us, the chappie in the tower at Sandown IOW is ceaslessly cheerful - even when I rang on a mobile from a field next to the M3 to cancel my PPR!

G

Whipping Boy... reminds me of the Christmas cracker riddles on the ATIS. Oh what fun!!

Cheerfull... hmmm Hamburg Approach !

There's this nice girl on there who i've met in person ... hearing her makes my day... but might be diffferent for thos who don't have the ... errr insight :)

Heathrow director,

Do you remember the Air France light twin that used to fly in a couple of years ago ?

Now she had a voice. Speakers used to go on all around the room. :D

An Amsterdam - Schiphol arrivals ATCer to be more exact who said goodbye to every pilot in his own language. I wondered what the Brits would get and it turned out to be a cheery "toodle oo Flyer xyz". Made us both laugh up front.
And how about the very polite LATCC- Thankyou sir, good day sir, ten degrees left and report the heading please sir.... What a nice chap. :) :) :)

Whizzing around East Anglia, the Wattisham MATZ always seems a friendly place, going out of their way to anticipate the likely needs of a VFR lightweight like me. While the Americans at Lakenheath are efficient, one controller I has there a few months ago was evidently on a mission to see how many words he could pack into each unyielding second - a bit counterproductive, lots of people were having to ask "say again".

I don't know how Farnborough radar manage to always sound professional and not either laugh or cry when they hear an initial call like this which I heard earlier this month (and it wasn't me!!!) :

"Hello, Farnborough radar, we're a -err- fixed wing and we're flying from such-and-such airfield in such-and-such county to such-and-such airfield in such-and-such county and we're going to fly direct we'd like to fly through your area and I'm not sure of our height oh yes its about two thousand feet and we've got three people on board we're heading about north but it's a bit bumpy and we're going to need a squark I think" :eek:

My vote too has to go to the chap you speak to when in/out of Stansted - can't quite remember what frequency he's always on, but he sounds quite distinctive, uhm, e.g. perhaps something akin to that BBC weather presenter Ian McCaskill (but without the Scottish accent) - he's a cool controller too !

That said, most controllers are pretty friendly imho.

There was alovely lady controller at Filton about 18 months ago, she was excellent on my initial IR. Very calming, pleasant and I believe she was well aware of the pressures the poor student was under. Hope she is still there or got promtion. I did phone her up after passing and thanking her for her help. :D

There is a guy on Maastricht, English accent always makes me smile, whats that? Oh okay over to Blighty on 12blah decimal blah, blah, blah. :) :)

Ok, for a change of Geography, there is a particularly lovely lass on Singapore Radar 127.3 that is brilliant, always freindly and accommodating and who I love talking to. And there is a lady that that reads the Brunei airport ATIS with a voice that will melt your heart. Almost like seduction on VHF!

Puritan - that's the chap on Essex Radar, I think. I was listening out to him direct the big boys into Stansted on Saturday while I was flying out of Stapleford. Cheerful ******, can't deny that, but good grief how does anyone ever understand a word of it? Another one trying to win the prize for most words disgorged in a minute.

Edited for disbelief - I can't say ******? How peculiar.

[ 29 October 2001: Message edited by: Lawyerboy ]

The, and I stress this CHAP who works Cambridge Twr and Radar has the coolest old boy posh voice ever, triffic! Always makes me smile.

....and my vote goes to - UKA F100 drivers.

How do you stay so cheerful? Is there something "special" in the crew meals you pick up at EHAM!?!

Well I am usually cheerful............ ;)

Vertigo.. aaah yes! BUT - remember the inevitable rule.. those with the sexiest voices are usually those sitting on two chairs!

QNH1013,

Yea, I've heard her on Singapore Radar 127.3 and on 133.25. Super seXy voice, like it when she says the number "0".

If only I can hear her voice everyday on every frequency :D , damn thats fettish !

Heathrow Director,

It can be true, BIG time ! :eek:

--------------------------------------------

Cheers,
Herman :cool:

Last year, on a visit to South Africa, I was able to visit the tower at JNB. I was also introduced to the ATC folks.

Talking to the woman on the position that covers the East/South Atlantic, pretty much from the 'bulge' down to Cape Town. She said that European crews were always very pleased to hear them! This may well have something to do with the professional approach of the controllers elsewhere in that continent!

I am sure that Guv can give us his experiences of African ATC!

Paxboy,

Ho Ho Ho, you are just SOOOOO Funny!

I remember visiting the flight deck on a trip to Cape Town (admittedly a few years ago now); the crew were most annoyed that the last ATC they had "managed to raise" was somewhere on the Med. coast - I think we were over Namibia at the time!!

Got an inadvertent funny whilst booking out by phone yesterday (won't say where to protect the lady's embarrassment).

Having been passed our outbound details, she asked me if we were returning later, to which my answer was yes. She asked me what time; I said it wasn't confirmed yet.

Her answer was "Let me know what time so I can do a strip for you".

She got the joke a second before I did! Howls of laughter from the other end of the phone, shortly followed by mine!

Really made my day. :D

I can't believe this thread got so long without anyone mentioning Christine @ BHD!

Easily the nicest, fun to talk to...

Worst has to be Mr. Angry, formerly of BFS, now, I believe at LDY.

And sexiest is a TWR controller @ HUY. What that voice could do for me!

HUGI am personally aquainted with the lady in question at HUY, (though not in the biblical sense! :( ), an introduction could be made for the appropriate fee...... :cool:

Some of us do try to inject a sense of humour to our RT and chat, but you wouldn't believe the amount of miserable individuals(can't really say what I'd like to!) who sit around us!! not to mention some of those who are flying overhead!!

I have to agree with you there, Achtung, some of the looks I get from my colleagues when I say 'toodle-oo' on the RT are sharp enough to kill!

Gonzo.