new forum: Ask the Controller

Jason spent 24 years as an air traffic controller at Los Angeles Center, and recently moved east to work in DC in the Airspace office as an air traffic subject matter expert. He is a Sport Pilot, owns a Rans S12XL E-LSA, and got his >87 knot endorsement so he can rent a C162. He's here to answer your questions about ATC procedures and rules, in a strictly unofficial capacity.

Moderators: drseti, Flim63

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drseti
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new forum: Ask the Controller

Post by drseti »

You may already have met Jason (Flim63), our new participant who is an air traffic controller. He has very kindly agreed to co-moderate this new forum. The description reads:
Jason spent 24 years as an air traffic controller at Los Angeles Center, and recently moved east to work in DC in the Airspace office as an air traffic subject matter expert. He is a Sport Pilot, owns a Rans S12XL E-LSA, and got his >87 knot endorsement so he can rent a C162. He's here to answer your questions about ATC procedures and rules, in a strictly unofficial capacity.
Thanks, Jason!
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Jack Tyler
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Re: new forum: Ask the Controller

Post by Jack Tyler »

Great addition! FYI another kind (and very patient) FAA soul on the Vans Owners forum, who works Tower and Approach at a regional TraCon, has one of the most popular threads there. Glad to hear we have a resource available to us here.
Jack
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jnmeade
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Re: new forum: Ask the Controller

Post by jnmeade »

This should be a valuable edition not to interpret FAA rules to us but to provide us with a "view from the tower". That is, what guidance ATC controllers are given, references we can view, training controllers receive and so forth. Knowing what an ATC controller is thinking - their perspective and the context - when s/he says something can be very useful for us pilots who want to be sure that our communications are clear and understood.

All of us who have flown for a while know that controllers say certain things in certain situations that have more implied meaning than is actually spoken. When you've been around a while, you sense and pick up on that. The inexperienced pilot may not.

For example, the pilot must request certain types of clearance that the controller knows may be useful but the controller is not allowed to offer, such as a contact approach (may not be applicable to SP).

Some readback controllers seem to accept even if it is not all that correctly said, but in some cases controllers want to hear the exact words. What are those cases and why does it matter? Because it's on tape? Example may be involved with "traffic in sight".

This should be a rollicking good discussion, one in which I expect I'll be the not always on the side of the angels. :)
Flim63
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Re: new forum: Ask the Controller

Post by Flim63 »

Thanks for the welcome, folks. Just so everyone knows where my perspective is coming from, I was a Los Angeles Center controller for my whole career up until February when I took a job at DC headquarters in the EnRoute Airspace office. I have never worked tower or tracon, but had 7 towered airports I provided approach services to (including Vandenburg AFB separating aircraft from Titan rocket launches). I've had the surreal task of calling traffic to a Cessna of a Tomahawk Cruise missile (IR200 for submarine launched missile testing). To allay any concerns, I am not part of flight standards in any way. If you think you are doing something incorrect with ATC, bring it up without fear of it biting you. Occasionally I'll post factoids relating to the research and design work I am doing for NextGen (a catch-all word for the advance hardware, software and procedures being developed). Again, thanks and I look forward to talking with you.

Jason
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