Air traffic control towers

J. M. Clinch, Study of Reduction of Glare, Reflection Heat and Noise Transfer in Air Traffic Control Tower Cab Glass, FAA-RD-72-65, AD747069, NTIS, Springfield, Va., 1972. 

The AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control Systems) acts as an air traffic control tower in the sky. The AWACS OPC mission was to ... 

Schmid G (2007), Membrane cladded air traffic control tower, Vienna Job report , in Bogner-Balz H and Zanelli A, Ephemeral Architecture Time and Textiles, Milan, Libreria CLUP, 217-226... 

Clinicians from a pediatric hospital visited an air traffic control tower to observe high reliability in action. They also engaged an expert from the airline industry to speak to staff members. Nurses from a medical-surgical unit became interested in the teamwork techniques used by the air traffic controllers. 

Another application was the "huddle." In an air traffic control tower, team members engage in ambient listening to maintain constant situational awareness of the everyday activity around them and scan for irregularities or potentially emerging risk. When conditions are detected that are moving them into zones of intolerable risk, workers stand up from their cubicles to establish critical communication with each... 

Air traffic control is the means by which separation of aircraft in flight and on the ground is maintained. This service is provided by ground-based personnel utilizing electronic systems and two-way communication. Present-day air traffic control rehes primarily on radar. Radar allows air traffic controllers to identify aircraft and to determine altitude, speed, and course. This, in turn, provides the controllers the information required to maintain separation and guide aircraft to their destinations. Air traffic control is divided into three distinct entities air traffic control towers (ATCTs) terminal radar approach control (TRACON) and air route traffic control centers (ARTCCs). Each has a distinct function, but all activities are coordinated among the sections. Flight service stations, an advisory service, are also a part of the air traffic control network. 

Air Traffic Control Towers. The ATGT will clear the aircraft to land or take off The tower controller, using primarily visual contact with the aircraft, will also provide all the necessary information to the pilot, such as the runway in use, the current altimeter setting, winds, ceiling and visibility, and the aircraft s position number in the landing or takeoff sequence. 

Aeroperu 603 asked the air traffic control tower at Lima to provide altitude readings from their ground radar, which had recently been returned to service after a major service. The tower responded by providing altitude data from its screens, which the air traffic controller believed were generated from the radar systems, but which were actually data provided by the aircraft s own communications data link with the ground i.e., the tower was simply reading back to Aeroperu 603 its own faulty altitude data. 

In addition to typical frame structures, BRBs can be used anywhere a ductile fuse element is required. Examples include bridges as ductile coimections between the superstructure and the substructure, stadiums as part of the lateral resisting systems, and dam intake towers to prevent lateral motion while Umiting the forces imparted to the dam. They have also been used more recently in the San Francisco Airport Air Traffic Control Tower which is a self-centering system where the BRBs provide hysteretic energy dissipation (Muthukumar and Sabelli 2013). 

Control Tower the air traffic control tower, terminal radar approach control, enroute control facility, and ground control movement centers... 

During the interview a case study was identified that describes an incident where, due to the mistake of a pilot of one taxiing aircraft, two aircraft were taking off almost simultaneously from crossing runways. After the correct intervention of the air traffic controllers from the ATC Tower, and adequate decision making, coordination and action of the pilots of one of the aircraft, a collision was prevented. This incident is described (in an anonymised manner) in the following section. 

Air traffic controllers are responsible for the safe travel of multiple aircraft simultaneously. A timely but complex set of commands must be communicated for a safe flight operation, particularly in congested airspace. For example, in 1991 a tower controller instmcted an aircraft to hold on Runway 24, intending to clear it for take-off as soon as other traffic had passed. The controller was pre-occupied with making radio transmissions and monitoring other aircraft that caused the take-off clearance to be forgottea Instead, another plane was ordered to land on Runway 24, which resulted in a catastrophic accident (Aviation Safety Netwoik, 1991). This human error can, at least partially, be attributed to a memory failure exacerbated by multiple tasks that needed to be performed by the responsible controller. The specific kind of memory that was deficient in this case is called prospective memory. 

In four cases the air traffic control performance was assessed as a contributing factor to the incident. The contributing role of air traffic control was mentioned in only one incident. ASRS incident report 672927 shows that the tower controller forgot to set his equipment correctly, a manual switch that determined the approach direction. As a result the pilot received wrong information about the approach. 

Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCCs). The air traffic control system is divided into twenty-two ARTCCs that manage traffic within specific geographical areas. The ARTCCs are responsible for all traffic other than that controlled by the terminal radar approach control (TRAGON) and the control tower facilities. Primarily utilizing constant radar surveillance, the ARTCCs provide separation for aircraft operating in controlled airspace under instrument flight rules. 

Aviation control towers, air traffic control centers, and emeigency aircraft hangars... 

The four components of the Airservices Austraha integrated HF approach are used interactively to ensure a comprehensive HF assessment is being routinely undertaken. In one project, an HF assessment of two major Austiahan radar tower air traffic operations was undertaken. The rationale for the project stemmed from the investigation data that had been collected during a two-year period. In addition, systemic monitoring had identified trends that warranted further analysis and review. The HF education that had previously been presented to controllers ensured that... 

---