ATC Question

[great cornholio]

I have a quick question about ATC. Its a dumb question and I don't know why I even thought of it but hey its 3 AM so give me a break. When a controller is working more that one sector at a center like late at night do they have to look at more than one scope or can all the sectors fit on one scope or can you switch what sector the scope shows kind of like switching what program you have on top on windows??? And I just thought of another question for you ATC guys. Why do we need to change our squak code everyonce in a while. For example you've been flying for an hour or so then all of a sudden you get a call "airline 1234 squak 3456" why change the code 1/2 way through the flight. Well thats it for now.

 

[GIVDrvr]

Airspace is displayed on single scope. This is accomplished by 'ranging out' the display. Sort of like going from 50 to 150 mi range on your wx radar. Generally, your asked to change beacon when you have flown from one center airspace to another and the receiving center host computer has previously assigned your beacon to another flight. Could happen with a single center area if for some reason the host processing on the original beacon was a glitch and the controller is issuing a new code to restart the automated handoff process. Usually this is on VFR handoffs but not always.

 

[ISaidRightTurns]

To say we just range out is a bit of an understatement. First, the maps need to be changed to the correst sector and the handoff feature forwarded. Then the VSCS (lines) are all forwarded to the new possition. The new frequencies are turned on and there you have it. We combine vertically more than horizontally. In my area, we have 7 sectors (3 los, 2 His, 2 UHis), on the mid, we go to 2 scopes. One takes a lo, hi, and Uhi (all pretty much vertically aligned) and the other take the rest, still pretty much one on top of the other.

As far a codes, it is normally a factor that that code has been assigned already. The system tries to keep up, but it has flaws. For instance, if delta's dispatchers go in to get a flight plan 3 hours before departure, the computer assigns a code then. If 30 minutes later you depart on that code from another facility, well then it's too late.

 

[FN FAL]

At one airport I leave on a freight run, they assign you a code at departure, then re-assign you one once you get airborne. Every time.

 

[ISaidRightTurns]

Yeah, we have that with AGS appch sometimes. It has to do with their ARTS system. If the flight plan processing is down, they just assign all a/c 4600, then manually call the center sector to coordinate departure time and heading. Once we get the a/c, we depart him in the machine, and put him on a real code. There are some approach controls that have no flight plan processing equipment at all, so that is the norm.