| ATC Training / Rose Marie Kern |
Just about any professional probably gets annoyed when they watch a movie or TV series that touches on their profession – and the details are just plain wrong. Take the movie “Die Hard”. Supposedly a group of terrorists are able to hack into the ATC approach control at Washington Dulles Airport. They proceed to turn off the frequencies for a lot of aircraft who are in a holding pattern – then the audience is supposed to assume all pilots are stupid enough to hold for nearly an hour without talking to ATC.
In my experience, pilots in holding patterns are anything but quiet.
Movies depicting Air Traffic Controllers transferring from one facility to another and immediately sitting down to work a position unmonitored are equally ridiculous. There is actually quite a bit of training involved whenever we change facilities.
Center, Tower and Flight Service specialists all begin in the classroom. They are required to study all the navaids, airways, airports, air traffic procedures and regulations, frequencies and airspace requirements pertinent to their area of responsibility (AOR).
Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCC) are split into geographical specialties, each containing from 5 to 10 high and low altitude sectors. Controllers familiarize themselves with the general picture for the entire ARTCC airspace and study their specialty in greater detail. They have to know basic information concerning each airport, traffic management patterns, military and civilian approach controls, restricted airspace, and minimum safe altitudes.
The airspace studied by Tower and Approach Controllers is smaller geographically (with the possible exception of SoCal Approach in California), but their knowledge of the area is more detailed. They must know the complexities and options of their approach and departure procedures, the ground traffic movement on the airports, the locations and services of government offices and FBO’s on the airport.
Flight service specialists are required to know much the same basic information as the Center and Tower controllers, plus they are required to be certified in interpretation of weather for use in pilot weather briefings by the National Weather Service. When they change facilities they study weather variations for their new AOR as well as geography and area specific knowledge packages.
Prior to working operations, a training team meeting between the specialist’s supervisor, a training department representative, the primary instructor and secondary instructor is held with the specialist. After a few weeks of classroom time, the trainees sit with specialists actively working the position for a period of time to observe and become accustomed to the methods used.
On the job training (OJT) usually begins during off peak traffic so that the trainee has time to orient himself with the equipment and procedures. This allows the instructor to point out techniques and options for various situations. When the trainee is ready, he is plugged into heavier traffic times. Normally the trainee works through and checks out on one position at a time.
The OJT instructor plugs his headset into the override on the trainee’s position. This allows him to key up and take over should the trainee falter. He then sits behind the trainee monitoring every word with a clipboard in his hands. I remember as a new trainee at Albuquerque Center I made the mistake of calling a Marine aircraft “Navy”. Unfortunately for me, the instructor was an ex-marine. Clipboards make a really loud noise when they hit the top of the chair behind your head.
In the ARTCC environment the training team may decide to work on just one or two sectors at a time and move on once the trainee is certified. For instance, the trainee may work a low altitude section first, then the high altitude above it then move on to the rest of the sectors until he is certified throughout his specialty.
At the Towers, OJT frequently begins with flight data and clearance delivery, then moves to ground control, local control (what the pilots call “tower”) and then to departure/approach control.
Flight Service basic functions include preflight briefing, flight data, and radio. Some specialists also take extra training to become flight watch certified. In addition to their initial training and evaluation, FSS specialists are subject to continuous random assessments from the National Weather Service, and the FAA as well as the Lockheed Martin quality assurance branch.
Obviously a transferring specialist will not have as much to learn as a fresh new trainee because the basic control techniques and regulations have already been ingrained, but it is rare that a transferee is fully checked out and working a position alone within a month of coming on duty and depending on where he is, it may be as much as three to six months. Frequently the specialist has come from a lower level facility and is taking on the challenge of greater and more complex traffic in order to achieve a higher paycheck. Tower controllers move more than others for that reason.
So the next time you watch the movie “Always” where the young lady is working a level 1 tower in the middle of nowhere, and a few months later she is working approach at a busy airport, then back to a level 1 tower by the end of the movie…feel a little skepticism.
Rose Marie Kern has worked in ATC since 1983. To ask questions you can contact her email at author@rosemariekern.com..
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