By CPL Damian Shovell
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FLGOFF
Timothy Clark and US personnel in the control tower at Balad
air base.
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SQNLDR
Robert Jackson and FLTLT Paul Heart operate the US field
radar system.
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Photos
by CPL Neil Ruskin
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THE
voices of Air Force Air Traffic Controllers are still heard on
the airwaves over Iraq, despite the withdrawal of the ATC Detachment
from Baghdad International Airport.
Senior ATC Squadron Leader Robert Jackson said three members were
working in the tower and three in the Radar Approach Control (RAPCON)
at Balad air base near Baghdad.
SQNLDR Jackson said while RAPCON was a usual tasking in Australia,
conducting this role using a US field radar system was a first
for the Air Force.
“RAPCON control aircraft to the airfield, and the ATCs land
them,” he said. “In the RAPCON we do the approach for
Baghdad, Balad and four minor airfields, and we do a centre function
where we transit traffic.”
The Iraqi air space is divided into three sectors. Balad controls
the middle section covering about a third of Iraq.
SQNLDR Jackson said when aircraft arrived from another sector
they contacted RAPCON personnel, who maintained their spacing
from each other and from active combat areas, then processed them
into flight areas and airfields.
“This is all Iraqi sovereign air space and they use the procedures
known as International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
Australia is more closely aligned to ICAO than the United States
[which use Federal Aviation Administration regulations], so we’re
helping them to understand the ICAO rules and regulations,”
he said.
“We’ve got the US Air Force and Army and the RAAF all
working together in the tower doing the air traffic job.
“We’ve also got the Iraqi national Air Traffic Controllers
now operating in Baghdad. We talk with them online and we talk
to Syria and Oman – the edge of our western air space –
and to our north and south is once again US units.”
The ATCs encountered something of a culture shock when they started,
as all US ATCs are enlisted members whereas all Australian ATCs
are officers. SQNLDR Jackson said the Americans took a little
time to become accustomed to the situation, but it had been accepted.
