Our PV schedule was posted the day before our PV day and we just had to make sure to be in the labs and ready to go for both ours and our partner's PV times. The rest of the time is allotted "self-study" time.
My partner ran her PV first and I had to work the south sector for her. She did pretty well and I think she only had one compression error on final. South sector was boring to work because they keep it pretty slow since no one is watching you and you're just there for a few coordinations. Our evaluator was from Waco, TX and he was pretty nice. I ran my PV after lunch. There are 3 different PV scenarios, so mine wasn't the same as my partner's. Overall the traffic wasn't super busy, but it was enough to keep you scanning and issuing pretty frequent transmissions. I didn't end up with any separation errors, but I did have a stupid scratchpad entry mistake. There was a United flight departing off of Academy going out the Mayes gate at 12,000, so I climbed him and turned him. Once he got to around 8,000 and there wasn't any conflicting traffic, I went to hand him off to Center. I pushed "C" on my keyboard and (according to my evaluator) I went to issue an instruction to a different aircraft before clicking on the United flight. Then I must have come back to click "C" again (forgetting I had already done it and hadn't clicked on him), and I tried to click on him this time. It didn't take it, so I hit "C" for a third time. Of course, this time it took, but now I had "CCC" in my preview area and didn't realize it. And in case you didn't know, anything with three letters/numbers replaces the destination in the aircraft data tag. So now my United flight was headed to "CCC" instead of "MAY". Go me. Oh well, not a big deal. At least I didn't have anyone die during my PV run. :)
After all of the PVs were over for the day we all met in the classroom around 3pm. We were given our certificates of completion, everyone said their goodbyes, and we were dismissed for good. I ended up hitting the road right after class to start my drive to Denver, which is why it's taken me a little while to update these posts. It's so good to be done with the Academy and to be back in Denver. I start work tomorrow morning at 7am and I'm looking forward to it. I'm still going to be updating this blog every now and then with short summaries of what I've been doing at the Tracon, so feel free to keep reading.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Day 17 of RTF
On day 17 we ran a specialized scenario in the morning and then we ran the post-test scenario. The post-test was exactly the same as the pre-test and it's supposed to show how much we've improved. It wasn't graded and our names don't even go on the report sheet. Compared to running the pre-test when I hadn't really worked any traffic, the post-test seemed incredibly slow and easy.
After we got done with that we had to meet upstairs in the classroom so that the woman who makes the PV schedule could brief us on the PV that we'd be having the next day. She basically just explained that the FAA flies in supervisors from facilities all around the country and told us to make sure we were in the labs about 10 minutes prior to our PV time. It was a short briefing, and then we all went down to the computer classroom to fill out our course evaluations. This was just a short survey asking each of us to review the course and there were also sections where you could type comments if you wish.
After lunch some of us got the chance to run 05WA. It's a single sector scenario so you have control of the entire airspace, but wow, it was crazy. Most of our scenarios start off with about 3 airplanes in the corners of the scope. This one started off with about 8 on the screen, and they were located all over. You immediately had to start issuing instructions, and from there on out it was non-stop transmissions. There were a ton of Academy arrivals, and I ended up slowing most of them to about 150 knots just because there was no other way to work the sequence and fit them all in without having a super long downwind. There were still departures and arrivals off of all the other airports, and it was important to constantly scan and not get lost in just working all of the Academy arrivals. Overall, it was a lot of fun to run (if not hectic), and I still did pretty well. I didn't have any separation errors or compression on final, and when we checked the computer at the back of the class at the end (it shows all errors for each individual scope), it showed that I only forgot to transfer the frequency of one aircraft. Not too bad.
The last two problems of the day were specialized scenarios meant to prepare us for our PV. I think we mostly ran old PV problems. Nothing too difficult.
After we got done with that we had to meet upstairs in the classroom so that the woman who makes the PV schedule could brief us on the PV that we'd be having the next day. She basically just explained that the FAA flies in supervisors from facilities all around the country and told us to make sure we were in the labs about 10 minutes prior to our PV time. It was a short briefing, and then we all went down to the computer classroom to fill out our course evaluations. This was just a short survey asking each of us to review the course and there were also sections where you could type comments if you wish.
After lunch some of us got the chance to run 05WA. It's a single sector scenario so you have control of the entire airspace, but wow, it was crazy. Most of our scenarios start off with about 3 airplanes in the corners of the scope. This one started off with about 8 on the screen, and they were located all over. You immediately had to start issuing instructions, and from there on out it was non-stop transmissions. There were a ton of Academy arrivals, and I ended up slowing most of them to about 150 knots just because there was no other way to work the sequence and fit them all in without having a super long downwind. There were still departures and arrivals off of all the other airports, and it was important to constantly scan and not get lost in just working all of the Academy arrivals. Overall, it was a lot of fun to run (if not hectic), and I still did pretty well. I didn't have any separation errors or compression on final, and when we checked the computer at the back of the class at the end (it shows all errors for each individual scope), it showed that I only forgot to transfer the frequency of one aircraft. Not too bad.
The last two problems of the day were specialized scenarios meant to prepare us for our PV. I think we mostly ran old PV problems. Nothing too difficult.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Day 16 of RTF
Today was our 70% skill check. In the morning we ran specialized scenarios to give us practice for the skill check, which included busier scenarios and old PV scenarios. After lunch we ran the skill check. It's meant to be at 70% of the traffic level of the PV that we'll be having on Wednesday. I didn't have any problems with it, and I don't think anyone else did either. It was the same stuff we've been seeing in every scenario, and I think we're all used to working a busier level of traffic now. The last run of the day was just a random specialized scenario, and it's gotten to the point where I'm kind of bored with the same things. Tomorrow we've been promised to get a chance to run 05WA though since a few of us have been requesting it (nicknamed "Whip Ass"). Supposedly it's the craziest scenario they have and no one can handle it. Our instructors told us they'd bring popcorn, sit back, and laugh at us all as we attempt to run it.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Day 14 and 15 of RTF
On Thursday we had our 40% skill check. In the morning we ran four different scenarios to give us some more practice before the evaluation. I forgot to mention that everyone in the class (in pairs anyway) is able to work at their own pace, and the individual instructors decide which scenario you'll run at each point in the day. The skill check went pretty well. We were evaluated only on the north sector, so we had to take turns running the scenario on north. The instructors from the two separate lab rooms swapped rooms for evaluations. The traffic level during the skill check was about average, and while you're on south waiting for your partner to get through with north you'll probably get kind of bored. On the north side you have to make sure to make the right calls at the right times or it's very easy to get backed up and lose control of the entire picture. At the end of the scenario the instructors went over things we did wrong (as well as things we were good at), and filled out notes on our evaluation forms (which will be sent to our individual facilities). Since RTF is not pass/fail at this point it doesn't matter if you completely bomb the skill checks, but of course it's still better to do your best. After the skill check was over we just ran a specialized scenario to finish up the day. I think most of us ran a single sector scenario that covered the entire airspace, and it was nice not to have to coordinate anything.
On Friday we ran specialized scenarios all morning, and these were all pretty similar to the others we've been running, if not slightly busier. Then after lunch we ran what they call an OJF problem. This scenario was exactly the same as the single sector scenario we ran on Thursday (where you have control of the entire airspace). The instructors left the room and we ran the problem on our own with everything being recorded. After we finished and took a short break they had us plug in again and then they replayed what we had just run and we listened to ourselves for the entire scenario. It's kind of funny to hear yourself controlling traffic, and you pick up on things you wouldn't have noticed before. You'll say to yourself things like, "Why didn't I turn that guy now?" and "Ooooh, I didn't have wake turbulence separation there..." You'll also realize the voice inflections that you have during transmissions and may want to make changes to certain ways you say things in the future.
Only 3 days left of RTF! I'm looking forward to finishing up. On Monday we have our 70% skill check and then on Wednesday we have our PV.
By the way, I heard that they slightly changed all the RTF classes just after ours. If any of you are headed to RTF training anytime soon, get ready to play some PacMan! There is this program called Natpro Suite on the computers and they're using PacMan as a tool to improve your scanning and anticipation abilities. You'll play your typical PacMan game and they also have different speed settings like "insane" which is nearly impossible. Supposedly during the classroom days of RTF they'll have students play PacMan for 45 minutes to an hour or so and then during the lab days of RTF they'll replace one of the seven scenario time slots with a time slot of PacMan playing. Sounds like a waste of time to me. Personally, I hate that game and I don't see how playing it will improve anything above what running a scenario in that time slot would do for you instead.
On Friday we ran specialized scenarios all morning, and these were all pretty similar to the others we've been running, if not slightly busier. Then after lunch we ran what they call an OJF problem. This scenario was exactly the same as the single sector scenario we ran on Thursday (where you have control of the entire airspace). The instructors left the room and we ran the problem on our own with everything being recorded. After we finished and took a short break they had us plug in again and then they replayed what we had just run and we listened to ourselves for the entire scenario. It's kind of funny to hear yourself controlling traffic, and you pick up on things you wouldn't have noticed before. You'll say to yourself things like, "Why didn't I turn that guy now?" and "Ooooh, I didn't have wake turbulence separation there..." You'll also realize the voice inflections that you have during transmissions and may want to make changes to certain ways you say things in the future.
Only 3 days left of RTF! I'm looking forward to finishing up. On Monday we have our 70% skill check and then on Wednesday we have our PV.
By the way, I heard that they slightly changed all the RTF classes just after ours. If any of you are headed to RTF training anytime soon, get ready to play some PacMan! There is this program called Natpro Suite on the computers and they're using PacMan as a tool to improve your scanning and anticipation abilities. You'll play your typical PacMan game and they also have different speed settings like "insane" which is nearly impossible. Supposedly during the classroom days of RTF they'll have students play PacMan for 45 minutes to an hour or so and then during the lab days of RTF they'll replace one of the seven scenario time slots with a time slot of PacMan playing. Sounds like a waste of time to me. Personally, I hate that game and I don't see how playing it will improve anything above what running a scenario in that time slot would do for you instead.
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