HazardTheDutchAD
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- Sep 24, 2016
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Air Traffic Control Induction
today i was at the airport (Liverpool) once again to take part in another induction taking place over at the airport. I started off by meeting over in the admin buildings to get escorted over to the employee pass offices. We watched 3 short videos about Operation Fairway, F.I.R.E and a Customer Services staff video. After we watched the video we all got told to come back into the pass office to receive our passes.
The pass that we received was a 2 month (60 day) access pass to areas 1, 2 and 4 which is pretty much all we will need for the jobs that we all chose. The areas we get escorted access to are:
today i was at the airport (Liverpool) once again to take part in another induction taking place over at the airport. I started off by meeting over in the admin buildings to get escorted over to the employee pass offices. We watched 3 short videos about Operation Fairway, F.I.R.E and a Customer Services staff video. After we watched the video we all got told to come back into the pass office to receive our passes.
The pass that we received was a 2 month (60 day) access pass to areas 1, 2 and 4 which is pretty much all we will need for the jobs that we all chose. The areas we get escorted access to are:
1 Airside
2 Landside
4 Administration Buildings
2 Landside
4 Administration Buildings
After we collected our passes we headed back over to the admin building were a member of staff drove us over to the ATS (Air Traffic Services) building which was pretty far from the main area of the airport. We had to wait in the reception for someone from the tower to come and collect us to take us up. We had to take a lift up to the tower. (there was stairs but because of how long it would have taken just to walk up to the top it saved our legs)
Once we made it to the top of the tower i was shocked by the view, a 360° clear view across the entire tower you could see the city centre and even the Ellesmere Port power plant and a clear view of the entire airport from the runway to the terminal building it was a stunning view!
While we were up in the tower we got permission to ask the controllers who were on shift any questions we had since there wasn’t many flights today arriving at the airport. There was a trainer aircraft doing circuit training touch and go’s but that wasn’t an issue unless they wanted to request permission to land the aircraft or request another touch and go on the runway.
While we were in the tower we got shown all the systems they use from the creation of the flight strips to the radar and runway lighting controls. While i was in the tower looking around i noticed on the radar an Airbus Beluga and managed to get a better view of the aircraft by borrowing a pair of binoculars. After we asked all our questions we headed down back into the main building and walked into the main radar room where 3 staff members where communicating with aircraft pilots who were wanting to cross through the Liverpool airspace or request permissions to be transferred over to Liverpool Approach. Liverpool Airport’s ATS building also manages the airspace across Doncaster.
We looked about and watched the staff do their thing directing planes and giving pilots clearance to enter the airspace. There was a student in guiding planes but they seemed to be doing a better job than anyone else there (She was pretty impressive) We stayed in the room for 10 more minutes asking any questions we had before we had to leave as it was getting close to lunch time, We actually went over and left the ATS at 11:55am and arrived back at the administration building for 12:10pm (A little late but for that experience i would say it was worth being late for lunch)
Environment Talk
We met back at the admin building and met our mentor as she took us over to the old decommissioned tower which is now used for IT and Engineering as well as the fire services. We met the head of Environment protection for the airport who’s job it was to suggest any improvements and idea the airport CEO could use to improve efficiency and their carbon footprint.
We didn’t learn much from this talk but we did get something from it. After we headed up to the decommissioned area of the tower and it was like walking a time machine 10 years back, everything looked so old yet some systems were still operating but in standby mode.
It was a pretty cool thing to see, all the old technology that they used back then and how updated it is how in the main operational tower. While i was in the old tower i also managed to find some old equipment such as old flight strip holders. We didn’t stay up there for long as we only had a short time with the mentor as he had to go to a meeting but as we left the building he waved off so we walked back to the admin buildings to return all the receipts from the week and check when we are in next.
Another fantastic experience and i start the full customer service training on Monday. I will mainly be in the administration buildings although they have said they are gonna try get me on airside once a week to see the amazing things that happen over there and maybe interact and help with a mentor’s job.
