By
Andrew Stackpool
 |
|
WOFF
Duncan Slaven with a conductor struck by lightning when
he was at RAAF Base Darwin.
|
|
Photo
by Andrew Stackpool
|
WARRANT
Officer Duncan Slaven and his 23-person Ground Electronics Systems
team at RAAF Base Tindal are well versed in abnormal situations.
WOFF Slaven is the
Officer-in-Charge of the team that is attached to No. 44 Wing’s
Air Traffic Control Flight.
They are responsible for the maintenance of all radar, communications
and NAVAIDs. The gear includes the electronic suites at the Delamere
range and team members are sent there, a 400km round trip on dirt
tracks.
In early May Tindal’s morning shift Air Traffic Controllers arrived
at work to discover that a burst water pipe had flooded the tower
and taken out the radios and other electronic equipment vital
for the control of the 30-odd aircraft movements expected during
the day. Enter WOFF Slaven’s team.
“We literally turned the tower off to let it dry,” WOFF Slaven
said. “We brought up vehicle-mounted comms and then got into the
tower with a mobile air-conditioning unit and every dryer we could
find in the place.
Once we had it dry [about 24 hours later] we turned our attentions
to the gear.
We dried it out and it all worked fine.” On another occasion
three 100- amp fuses blew three hours before the start of a major
operations envelope.
“That got our attention,” WOFF Slaven quipped. “I want maximum
effectiveness,” he said. “This job is the same whether we have
one aircraft up, 100, or none. We aim for 100 per cent online.
I have a great team – they are well trained and do a great job.”
He said lightning strikes were a major challenge.
In his office he keeps a conductor scorched and melted from a
lightning hit on the control tower at RAAF Base Darwin when he
was based there.
The strike took out all NAVAIDs and communications.
