Calling Atlanta Tower/Excellent Site!

[Clipper]

Have you ever wanted to try your hand at being an air traffic controller? This link will give you a little taste of the intricasies and stress a controller has to go through on a daily basis. Try to ident the incoming plane on the radar screen as soon as it makes initial contact with Atlanta tower, then see if you can follow it to final just by

[jrpilot]

Yeh I have been ther before...look at all them aircraft their though....very stressful

[beaky]

That is very cool... they're pretty darn busy, even on a Saturday. Questions, though: What do the color codes mean, and what part of the aircraft "strip" shows altitude? That site has a lot of info, but no key to reading the display itself...any idea?

[Clipper]

I'd love to help you rottydaddy, but I haven't taken the time to decipher it myself. I'm sure that if you stare at it long enough, it'll start making sense. I'm sure, at least the altitude shouldn't be too hard to ascertain. Glad you like it, fun isn't it.

[jrpilot]

i believe it shows the dep and arr airports...the groundspeed and alltitude

[Saratoga]

Found it.
Ok here's an example:
AAL766
330 524
DFW LGA
MD82 3:58

Airline, Flight Number
Altitude, Ground Speed
Departure, Arrival
Aircraft, Flight Time

[Clipper]

Thanks for the update Saratoga  :)

[Saratoga]

No problem at all. I'll tell ya that guy in the MD82 I showed was cookin'. I didn't believe that was his speed until I loaded real world weather in the sim and saw the winds, then it made sense. Hope it helps. Quite a nice site, thanks for the link. Never have seen that, but it is a really good representation of what it's like for us. You try and talk during peak hours in say NYC, Denver, Atlanta, Miami, Dallas, LAX, or Seattle, you have to just sit there holding your finger over the mic button, and you hear that other guy finish his clearance and you slam your finger down so fast on the button....and someone beats you to it.

[Clipper]

I'm glad you like the site Saratoga. It sounds like you spend a lot of working hours with white knuckles and a sweaty forehead. Tell me more about it

[beaky]

Found it.
Ok here's an example:
AAL766
330 524
DFW LGA
MD82 3:58

Airline, Flight Number
Altitude, Ground Speed
Departure, Arrival
Aircraft, Flight Time

Aha!! Thanks. Yes, the color codes seem to indicate arr/dep/ in transit  status . The "strip" code I couldn't figure out- much like a METAR  :D
I was monitoring EWR tower yesterday trying to get some pictures from my window, and even on Saturday, for a brief period in the afternoon, it was very busy. The tower controller was also handling a bit of ground directions as well; he had his hands full. And I could  hear pilots spitting out their messages as quickly as they can.... stressful for everybody. Reminds me of when I was taking my PPSEL training at TEB...

[Saratoga]

Well, it's not white knuckle life or death flying, but ATC can make things complicated. Some of the worst ATC I have seen is around Miami during afternoon "rush hour" when there are storms around the airport. Flights being diverted, holding, takeoffs, more advanced aircraft landing, little prop planes scurrying past, quite amazing it all works. We just shutup in the cockpit, one of us focuses on flying, or rather monitoring the autopilot, and the other tunes his world out except for ATC, listening for any transmission that beings with American and our flight number. Then it's just see how fast we can reply to it and immediately input the required settings to do what is requested of us. Insane at times, but as long as everyone is cool and paying attention, the controllers know what they are doing and they can make it work.

[Clipper]

It's incredible that it does work. Doesn't the constant monitoring and anticipation-reaction detract from any pleasure you may get  from being in the air and really enjoying what you do? I would imagine there's plenty of relaxed flying (sightseeing) during the central part of each flight. Some individuals seem to thrive on technically challenging work. Yourself included? Do you have any close call stories?

[beefhole]

Well, I'm not airline pilot (yet ), but I can tell you that in order to keep myself focused, concentrated and sharp, it often isn't fun when I'm flying because I'm very intent on what I'm doing, and I have every intention of doing things the best and safest way possible. My (ex) CFI, Zack, immediately saw this in me-it's not often you find this developed so early in a 15 year old GA pilot (many GA pilots are simply unsafe). Every time I see him (lol he still practically runs the airfield even though he now has a job elsewhere), he never forgets to mention what a great pilot I'm going to make.

For example-The last flight I took, my new CFI, Matti, took control of the airplane during taxi abruptly, pointed it towards a couple of other people, and exercised the throttle, revving it. While it was funny (he was a safe distance away), I had my eyes on the taxiway, getting ready to take back control of the plane and watching for traffic coming our way. After our flight, I walked into the terminal building to see Zack there-I was like "hey, when did you get here?" He just looked at me and said "what, are you blind? didn't you see me? I was the one Matti was doing the engine thing to". Naturally, I explained why I hadn't seen him and got the obligatory "you're gonna make a great pilot..."

In general, I am too concentrated on whatever I'm doing to truly enjoy it, which is why I enjoy my cross countries. When you're flying locally, you always have something to do. Not so when you're cruising for 45 minutes. Now thats fun.

[Saratoga]

Ya clipper I have my close-call stories. Everyone who's been a pilot for very long does, some worse than others.

Sure the monitoring does take a bit away from the sightseeing and general enjoyment, but it's definetly a worthwile tradeoff. Plus below 10,000 feet in an airliner it's a sterile cockpit anyways so we should be focused on ATC and the climb/approach. I thrive on challenges though. Nothing better than pulling off an ILS at minimums in horrible weather then hear the controller tell you "nice job" and hear clapping through the cockpit door. That makes it all worth it.