Today we spent the entire day running part-task scenarios. It really made the day pass quickly and it was a lot of fun. We ran seven different scenarios lasting about 40 minutes each. There were ghost pilots for all of us this time, so we all worked as controllers the entire day. We had use of the ACD lab after lunch time, so we alternated out half in the lab and half in the classroom so that we could use that.
The scenarios alternated between working as north or south controller and they were all pretty similar. Working the north scenarios there were arrivals and departures into and off of Academy, Bartles, and James, along with some overflights and VFR pop-ups thrown in. The south scenarios were similar with some overflights, and had arrivals and departures into and off of Academy and Jeske. I think all of us did pretty well and by the end of the day we had the procedures and phraseology down for the most part.
Tomorrow we start in the ACD labs full time. Only 9 days left of class!
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Day 7 and 8 of RTF
On Monday we covered additional services, radar services to VFR aircraft, and visual approaches. The section on additional services covered the duty priorities of controllers, traffic advisories, the traffic alert and collision avoidance system, weather and chaff information, and bird activity. Radar services to VFR aircraft covered the approach sequence, control transfer, termination of service, terminal radar service areas, and class B and C service. The section on visual approaches covered vectors for a visual approach, clearance for a visual approach, visual approaches to multiple runways, and contact approaches.
Today we started our last lecture section: emergencies and unusual situations. This covered emergency situations (distress and urgency situations), controller responsibilities, ELT signal assistance, emergency beacon codes, radar assistance techniques, aircraft bomb threats, no radio procedures, primary and secondary radar failure, and fuel dumping. After we were done with this section we had a review for our second block test, in the style of "Who Wants to Be a Controller?" We got through the review and the test pretty quickly and then we had a similar review for our radar qualification exam. This one was a 50 question test and it was still pretty easy, and we took it just before lunch. We were originally supposed to take it tomorrow, but Elizabeth let us get it out of the way so that from tomorrow on out all we have are scenarios to run.
After lunch we ran scenarios through the end of the day. There was one that had arrivals to James and Bartles, and we had to get used to the phraseology for each type of arrival. We also had to remember the whole, "Report cancellation of IFR this frequency in the air or with McAlester radio on the ground. Change to advisory frequency approved." (That part was for arrivals into James.) Then we ran a scenario that added Academy arrivals along with the James and Bartles arrivals. That one was definitely a lot busier. There was also a scenario that was just Academy arrivals, but there were a ton of them. Speed adjustments were needed to work everyone in and you had to work them from both the north and the south side.
Tomorrow we run part-task scenarios all day but this time we get ghost pilots for the day so that all of us can be controllers at once. We may be able to use one of the labs tomorrow, but we don't know for sure yet. On Friday we officially start in the ACD labs, and we'll also have our pre-test. This is basically a scenario we run that we know nothing about and supposedly it's pretty busy. We're expected to do poorly on it, because we also run the same scenario on the very last day of class and it's supposed to show how well everyone has improved.
Today we started our last lecture section: emergencies and unusual situations. This covered emergency situations (distress and urgency situations), controller responsibilities, ELT signal assistance, emergency beacon codes, radar assistance techniques, aircraft bomb threats, no radio procedures, primary and secondary radar failure, and fuel dumping. After we were done with this section we had a review for our second block test, in the style of "Who Wants to Be a Controller?" We got through the review and the test pretty quickly and then we had a similar review for our radar qualification exam. This one was a 50 question test and it was still pretty easy, and we took it just before lunch. We were originally supposed to take it tomorrow, but Elizabeth let us get it out of the way so that from tomorrow on out all we have are scenarios to run.
After lunch we ran scenarios through the end of the day. There was one that had arrivals to James and Bartles, and we had to get used to the phraseology for each type of arrival. We also had to remember the whole, "Report cancellation of IFR this frequency in the air or with McAlester radio on the ground. Change to advisory frequency approved." (That part was for arrivals into James.) Then we ran a scenario that added Academy arrivals along with the James and Bartles arrivals. That one was definitely a lot busier. There was also a scenario that was just Academy arrivals, but there were a ton of them. Speed adjustments were needed to work everyone in and you had to work them from both the north and the south side.
Tomorrow we run part-task scenarios all day but this time we get ghost pilots for the day so that all of us can be controllers at once. We may be able to use one of the labs tomorrow, but we don't know for sure yet. On Friday we officially start in the ACD labs, and we'll also have our pre-test. This is basically a scenario we run that we know nothing about and supposedly it's pretty busy. We're expected to do poorly on it, because we also run the same scenario on the very last day of class and it's supposed to show how well everyone has improved.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Days 4-6 of RTF
On Wednesday of last week we covered vectoring and speed control. The vectoring section covered the proper phraseology to use to issue an aircraft a particular heading, to initiate a vector, and to resume particular procedures. We covered the traffic pattern headings for the airports in Academy airspace, and they'll be helpful to know for when we run approach scenarios. We ran a part-task scenario after this section, which was the vector maze I talked about in an earlier post.
The speed adjustment section covered phraseology for increasing and reducing speed, crossing restrictions with speed involved, and speed requirements for arrivals and departures in Academy airspace. The part-task scenario for this section had a bunch of arrivals coming into AAC, and we had to adjust their speeds to keep minimum separation on downwind and while landing.
On Thursday we covered the last section in our first RTF manual: altitude. This section covered MEAs, MOCAs, MVAs, the NEODD SWEVEN rule, and phraseology for assigning a particular altitude. We also reviewed altitude procedures for arrivals and departures in Academy airspace. The part-task scenario just involved changing altitudes on arrivals into Academy so that airplanes were properly separated.
After we finished the altitude lecture and part-task scenario we had our review for our first block test. We played "Who Wants to Be a Controller?" which was modeled off of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" (complete with the sound effects). It was a fun way to review and it covered everything we needed to know for the test.
After lunch we moved onto our second RTF manual. The first section covered departure procedures like SIDs, releases of IFR and VFR departures, and separation on departure and over obstructions. We ran two scenarios a few times to get the hang of departures. One was working as the north controller, and another was working as the south controller. We got the hang of having departures off of all four airports, and got to practice our phraseology for each situation.
On Friday we moved onto arrival and approach procedures. This covered approach clearances, vectors to final approach courses, GPS arrivals, practice instrument approaches, missed approaches, and VFR to IFR. This one was a pretty long section. The part-task scenario we ran covered approaches into all four airports, but we mostly had to be concerned with the headings from downwind to base to final, and we didn't give full clearances.
I headed out to Denver for the weekend since we had Monday off for President's Day. It was nice to get out of OKC and I managed to find a place to live for when I'm done with the Academy. I also discovered that working for the FAA has its advantages. The security lines at DEN on Monday afternoon were 30-45 minutes long and I started to wait in one when I heard one of the TSA people calling all military, clear card holders, first class passengers, etc., over to an expedited line. I asked her if I could get in that line instead if I was an FAA employee. She just had to take a look at my MMAC badge and I saved myself about half an hour of waiting. :) I'm sure this doesn't work every time, but it sure helped on that day.
The speed adjustment section covered phraseology for increasing and reducing speed, crossing restrictions with speed involved, and speed requirements for arrivals and departures in Academy airspace. The part-task scenario for this section had a bunch of arrivals coming into AAC, and we had to adjust their speeds to keep minimum separation on downwind and while landing.
On Thursday we covered the last section in our first RTF manual: altitude. This section covered MEAs, MOCAs, MVAs, the NEODD SWEVEN rule, and phraseology for assigning a particular altitude. We also reviewed altitude procedures for arrivals and departures in Academy airspace. The part-task scenario just involved changing altitudes on arrivals into Academy so that airplanes were properly separated.
After we finished the altitude lecture and part-task scenario we had our review for our first block test. We played "Who Wants to Be a Controller?" which was modeled off of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" (complete with the sound effects). It was a fun way to review and it covered everything we needed to know for the test.
After lunch we moved onto our second RTF manual. The first section covered departure procedures like SIDs, releases of IFR and VFR departures, and separation on departure and over obstructions. We ran two scenarios a few times to get the hang of departures. One was working as the north controller, and another was working as the south controller. We got the hang of having departures off of all four airports, and got to practice our phraseology for each situation.
On Friday we moved onto arrival and approach procedures. This covered approach clearances, vectors to final approach courses, GPS arrivals, practice instrument approaches, missed approaches, and VFR to IFR. This one was a pretty long section. The part-task scenario we ran covered approaches into all four airports, but we mostly had to be concerned with the headings from downwind to base to final, and we didn't give full clearances.
I headed out to Denver for the weekend since we had Monday off for President's Day. It was nice to get out of OKC and I managed to find a place to live for when I'm done with the Academy. I also discovered that working for the FAA has its advantages. The security lines at DEN on Monday afternoon were 30-45 minutes long and I started to wait in one when I heard one of the TSA people calling all military, clear card holders, first class passengers, etc., over to an expedited line. I asked her if I could get in that line instead if I was an FAA employee. She just had to take a look at my MMAC badge and I saved myself about half an hour of waiting. :) I'm sure this doesn't work every time, but it sure helped on that day.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Random note...
Hi everyone, just a quick random note... Sorry I haven't been as quick to update this blog as I have been previously. I was actually surprised that I was keeping up with it on a daily basis up until this point. Anyway, I've been a little sick the past few days and just wasn't in the mood to post, but I have been keeping notes and remembering what we've been doing in class. I'm flying out to Denver right after class tomorrow, so I'll be updating my blog on Monday night or Tuesday night when I get back. Wish me luck on finding a place to live in Denver! Plus, I get to go skiing this weekend, and getting out of OKC is always an added bonus. :)
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Day 3 of RTF
Today we finished up with the section on radar identification. This covered radar contact, radar contact lost and radar service terminated. Then it went over the three primary radar identification methods: departure observed within one mile of takeoff runway end at airports with an operating control tower, position correlation, and identifying turns. Three beacon identification methods are an ident, observing a code change, and squawk standby then normal. We covered the proper phraseology for everything, and then moved onto a section on transfer of radar identification.
This section covered handoffs and point outs. Surprisingly for me, some of the stuff in this section seemed new to me (either that, or I just wasn't paying attention in class on whatever day we covered it at Riddle). After we reviewed we ran a scenario with half the class as controllers and half as pilots. At first we were all a little confused on some of the things to do in the scenario, but we picked it up pretty quick again. The pilots just got prompts to act as Aero Center and call up with (for example) a request for a point out on a particular aircraft. Then the controllers had to either approve or deny it based on other traffic in the area. Controllers also had to figure out when to request position verification on an aircraft, or when to tell them radar contact, etc. We ran this scenario a total of four times (two times each as a controller), because the class requested a second try at it just to make sure we understood everything.
The last topic we covered today was separation procedures and safety alerts. Bob taught us this section, and I still can't say I'm a fan of his teaching style. He feels the need to explain each thing in three different ways, so it takes forever and he also ends up confusing people (so as a result we ask more questions and he has to explain even more). Anyway, the first half of this section covered radar separation between targets, wake turbulence separation, divergence, and separation from formation flights, obstructions, adjacent airspace, and special use airspace. I had forgotten about the divergence rules, so I found those interesting to freshen up on. Basically divergence is that all other approved separation may be discontinued when the following conditions are met:
Today I also filed my first per diem and travel voucher. I tried to file it on Monday (which was 15 days out from my first day of class), but they wanted me to change my lease to read from the day before class instead of the first day of class (so that I could get paid for that day too). They approved my full per diem amount from the day before class started through today, and also calculate my travel costs. Originally they messed up and calculated my travel from Denver to Oklahoma and back, but it should have been Daytona to Oklahoma to Denver. I also thought that they were supposed to give you travel from your home to OKC and back to home (and then you had to just travel to your duty station on your own), but apparently they ask you if you're headed home or to your duty station right after OKC and then they calculate that for your return costs. Anyway, they compare the flight costs to the mileage costs and then give you the lower of the two, no matter which method of transportation you used. I was surprised that I got the mileage, but I think it was because DAB is a smaller airport so airfare to OKC came to around $1400. I'm definitely not complaining. I got way more on the mileage than I expected.
This section covered handoffs and point outs. Surprisingly for me, some of the stuff in this section seemed new to me (either that, or I just wasn't paying attention in class on whatever day we covered it at Riddle). After we reviewed we ran a scenario with half the class as controllers and half as pilots. At first we were all a little confused on some of the things to do in the scenario, but we picked it up pretty quick again. The pilots just got prompts to act as Aero Center and call up with (for example) a request for a point out on a particular aircraft. Then the controllers had to either approve or deny it based on other traffic in the area. Controllers also had to figure out when to request position verification on an aircraft, or when to tell them radar contact, etc. We ran this scenario a total of four times (two times each as a controller), because the class requested a second try at it just to make sure we understood everything.
The last topic we covered today was separation procedures and safety alerts. Bob taught us this section, and I still can't say I'm a fan of his teaching style. He feels the need to explain each thing in three different ways, so it takes forever and he also ends up confusing people (so as a result we ask more questions and he has to explain even more). Anyway, the first half of this section covered radar separation between targets, wake turbulence separation, divergence, and separation from formation flights, obstructions, adjacent airspace, and special use airspace. I had forgotten about the divergence rules, so I found those interesting to freshen up on. Basically divergence is that all other approved separation may be discontinued when the following conditions are met:
- Aircraft are on opposite courses (136 degrees to 180 degrees difference in flight paths) and you have observed that they've passed each other,
- Or aircraft are on the same (less than 45 degrees between flight paths) or crossing (45 degrees to 135 degrees) courses and one aircraft has crossed the projected flight path of the other and the angular difference between their courses is at least 15 degrees, and,
- The tracks are monitored to ensure that the primary targets, or beacon control slashes, etc. will not touch.
Today I also filed my first per diem and travel voucher. I tried to file it on Monday (which was 15 days out from my first day of class), but they wanted me to change my lease to read from the day before class instead of the first day of class (so that I could get paid for that day too). They approved my full per diem amount from the day before class started through today, and also calculate my travel costs. Originally they messed up and calculated my travel from Denver to Oklahoma and back, but it should have been Daytona to Oklahoma to Denver. I also thought that they were supposed to give you travel from your home to OKC and back to home (and then you had to just travel to your duty station on your own), but apparently they ask you if you're headed home or to your duty station right after OKC and then they calculate that for your return costs. Anyway, they compare the flight costs to the mileage costs and then give you the lower of the two, no matter which method of transportation you used. I was surprised that I got the mileage, but I think it was because DAB is a smaller airport so airfare to OKC came to around $1400. I'm definitely not complaining. I got way more on the mileage than I expected.
Day 2 of RTF
Day 2 of RTF wasn't too exciting. We started off the morning bright and early with a section on primary and secondary radar. It explained all the different components of primary radar and how a radar system works. Not too much point to understanding the details, because even if our scope ends up dying on us or something, I doubt the flying public would like us to try and fix it... "Oh shit, where'd all my beacon targets go? No wait, don't get the supervisor so that he can get the tech, I got this one guys..."
Next we covered the details of the ARTS Color Display, otherwise known as the ACD. We'll be using the ACD lab while the other RTF class uses the STARS lab, since most of us (sorry Phil and Fred) have ACD at our facilities. This section covered the ARTS keyboard again, as well as the different types of data blocks. It was repetitive from what we learned in the ITR course, but only because Dave was nice enough to cover some RTF stuff that wasn't actually required for us to know in ITR. We ran through another exercise just like the ones I described in earlier posts, where our instructor read off call signs, types, and destinations, and we had to enter them into the computer.
After lunch we had two other instructors cover a "pilot teach" lesson. Since we'll be working on part-task scenarios in the classroom, we needed to know how to run things on the pilot end (even though we already covered the basics during ITR). They showed us how to assign an aircraft a different heading, altitude, and speed, and also showed us how to clear an aircraft for an approach, squawk a certain beacon code, and follow a particular route. Then we ran a short exercise that was pure piloting. Aircraft would light up in white, we would click on them, and then we had to input the proper instructions that would have been issued to us by a controller. The instructors were surprised that we all picked it up so fast, and I guess we have Dave to thank for that.
After the pilot teach we covered some of the section on radar identification but ran out of time. More on that tomorrow.
Next we covered the details of the ARTS Color Display, otherwise known as the ACD. We'll be using the ACD lab while the other RTF class uses the STARS lab, since most of us (sorry Phil and Fred) have ACD at our facilities. This section covered the ARTS keyboard again, as well as the different types of data blocks. It was repetitive from what we learned in the ITR course, but only because Dave was nice enough to cover some RTF stuff that wasn't actually required for us to know in ITR. We ran through another exercise just like the ones I described in earlier posts, where our instructor read off call signs, types, and destinations, and we had to enter them into the computer.
After lunch we had two other instructors cover a "pilot teach" lesson. Since we'll be working on part-task scenarios in the classroom, we needed to know how to run things on the pilot end (even though we already covered the basics during ITR). They showed us how to assign an aircraft a different heading, altitude, and speed, and also showed us how to clear an aircraft for an approach, squawk a certain beacon code, and follow a particular route. Then we ran a short exercise that was pure piloting. Aircraft would light up in white, we would click on them, and then we had to input the proper instructions that would have been issued to us by a controller. The instructors were surprised that we all picked it up so fast, and I guess we have Dave to thank for that.
After the pilot teach we covered some of the section on radar identification but ran out of time. More on that tomorrow.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
First Day of RTF
We started RTF on Friday. Our lead instructor is Elizabeth Froehler and our assistant instructor is Paul Lore. We'd all already met Paul in ITR because he helped out with some of the scenarios we ran in the lab. Elizabeth seems pretty nice just like Dave. I can't imagine what it would be like to get a bad instructor at the academy. I wonder if anyone's ever had one, or if the attitudes and personalities among the instructors there are pretty similar.
We picked up one more person to add to our class of ten. He's from SCT and is just here for RTF. There are normally twelve people in RTF classes, but our twelfth person dropped out or something. We started off the day with an academy orientation again, which was mostly for the new guy's benefit. Then we moved onto a section about academy airspace. This class is a lot more specific to learning how to run scenarios and such, so we have maps and stuff to memorize now. We covered the airports, final approach courses, NAVAIDs, final approach fixes, intersections, adjacent and shelf airspace, departure gates, and arrival gates. Elizabeth gave us a couple of blank maps to use to practice filling out once we have things memorized.
Then we covered a section on academy LOA/SOP procedures. This was all pretty detailed, and reviewed the facility SOPs and the LOAs we have with Aero Center, Jeske, and Springfield Approach. That was pretty much the extent of the day. I think on Monday we start the part-task scenarios (of which we've already done a few in ITR). Monday is also the first day that most of us can file our first travel and per diem paperwork. You have to wait at least 15 days from the first day you stayed in housing (which can only go back to one day before the start of class) before you can file the first set of paperwork. It only takes about 3 days to process it and get paid after that though supposedly. Our first payday is also this Tuesday (for those of us that weren't already here for the basics class, that is). I can't wait to get some money finally!
We picked up one more person to add to our class of ten. He's from SCT and is just here for RTF. There are normally twelve people in RTF classes, but our twelfth person dropped out or something. We started off the day with an academy orientation again, which was mostly for the new guy's benefit. Then we moved onto a section about academy airspace. This class is a lot more specific to learning how to run scenarios and such, so we have maps and stuff to memorize now. We covered the airports, final approach courses, NAVAIDs, final approach fixes, intersections, adjacent and shelf airspace, departure gates, and arrival gates. Elizabeth gave us a couple of blank maps to use to practice filling out once we have things memorized.
Then we covered a section on academy LOA/SOP procedures. This was all pretty detailed, and reviewed the facility SOPs and the LOAs we have with Aero Center, Jeske, and Springfield Approach. That was pretty much the extent of the day. I think on Monday we start the part-task scenarios (of which we've already done a few in ITR). Monday is also the first day that most of us can file our first travel and per diem paperwork. You have to wait at least 15 days from the first day you stayed in housing (which can only go back to one day before the start of class) before you can file the first set of paperwork. It only takes about 3 days to process it and get paid after that though supposedly. Our first payday is also this Tuesday (for those of us that weren't already here for the basics class, that is). I can't wait to get some money finally!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)