Clear and direct

By CPL Sean Burton

Air Traffic Controllers Squadron Leader Andrew Watson, Squadron Leader Barbara Courtney, Flight Lieutenant Darren Olsson and Flying Officer Trevor Langford, of 383ECSS, monitor incoming aircraft. Photo by CPL Sean Burton

AIR Traffic Controllers manpacked their radios into the Solomon Islands on day one of Operation Helpem Fren and quickly adapted to an unfamiliar environment to safely direct a large volume of Military and Civil aircraft using Henderson Airfield at Honiara.

Operations Flight Commander Squadron Leader Barbara Courtney said she was pleased with the way the four ATCs had established themselves.

“I’m very happy with how quickly we have established a legitimate service here and that’s probably because of the high quality training we get back home,” SQNLDR Courtney said.

“Day one was very interesting we had little sleep, we were in an unfamiliar environment, but we were set up very quickly.

“Being the first day there was quiet a surge of traffic that pretty much arrived all at the same time, we were also dealing with local operators who had to continue with their operations.

“Very poor weather turned it into quite a complex day for us. There was no equipment in the control tower, and we are still working off our manpack radios which we carried in.”

She said that operations similar to Helpem Fren were now the core business of ATCs.

“This is what sets us apart from Air Services Australia. The other side of the ATC role for us is domestic operations at our airbases and international terminals in Townsville and Darwin, but what keeps us in blue is our ability to support air operations overseas.”

On their first day of Operation Helpem Fren the Air Force ATCs landed 45 aircraft, that number has increased from about 60 peaking to 114 flights a day with about 40-45 of those being military aircraft.

Henderson Airfield has full international night landing capability, which has had little use as yet.

Looking out of the Air Traffic Control tower, SQNLDR Courtney scans the horizon as a C-130 Hercules lines up for an approach over the lush-green cloud-shrouded mountains surrounding Henderson Airfield.

“This jobs always interesting, there’s never a boring day and it’s a fantastic view,” she said with a smile.

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