RAAF, A Safe Landing

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A Safe Landing

By Christine Waugh

The School of Air Traffic Control at RAAF Base East Sale hosted their first Work Experience student in September 2010. Bryson, a year 10 student from Aitken Secondary College in Melbourne, has a keen interest in pursuing a career in Air Traffic Control and during his five day placement he was given the opportunity to life the life of an Air Traffic Controller in the Royal Australian Air Force.

Bryson was able to spend time in the Air Traffic Control simulator, where he was able to watch and learn how the RAAF train its own budding Air Traffic Controllers and even had an opportunity to safely land an aircraft on the simulated runway. Bryson also spent time in the control tower observing how aircraft land and are cleared for take off in a real life environment. Wing Commander Cooper, Commanding Officer, School of Air Traffic Control said "It was a very worthwhile activity. Bryson was provided with a minimum amount of theoretical instruction on how to prevent aircraft from colliding and guidance on what to say to the aircraft, then assisted by an Air Traffic Control instructor to provide Tower Control services in one of the visual simulators. Remarkably, and although the simulated Air Traffic Control was intentionally uncomplicated, within only a few hours Bryson was performing very well as a Tower Controller. As modern Air Traffic Control increasingly requires fluid human machine interface, it should not be surprising the 'X-Box generation' people can rapidly adapt to the challenges. The School of Air Traffic Control looks forward to hopefully seeing Bryson on an ATC course in the future".

Squadron Leader Andy Hoare, Executive Officer, School of Air Traffic Control was astounded at how quickly Bryson picked up the technical aspects of the Air Traffic Control Simulator, which has inspired School of Air Traffic Control to investigate running a two day program using the simulator for the Air Force Cadets. When asked what Bryson enjoyed most about his placement, he answered "playing on the simulators and going out on site because it is the best experience you could every have". Bryson had a fantastic time on his placement and explained that "the staff were all very friendly and willing to share their experience in the industry, I learned so much".

Images

Air traffic control simulator
CT4B instrument panel
King Air 350 Planes