Something hadn't occurred to me until Karl and I actually approached Stansted Airport for a visit to an old friend of his now working in ATC (air traffic control) - the size of the tower! As someone who really doesn't 'do' heights, I immediately started to wonder what I'd let myself in for. I'm one of those people who loves to fly and view the world below from the comfort of an aircraft, but ask me to climb a ladder to say, the height of a house, and I'm gone, no chance! Stansted's imposing ATC tower looked tall enough from a mile or so out so, as we pulled in the car park at its base, I was seriously beginning to wonder whether this might be a GAR visit too far. Gritting my teeth as we waited for Damon to collect us, I resolved not to stand too close the windows, so as we entered the staff rest room on the 13th floor, looking out of the slanting window to find myself staring straight down to the ground below probably wasn't the best start, but after that I kind of figured it couldn't any worse unless Damon said we were going to abseil down the outside!
As we climbed the flight of stairs to the main control room to get our bearings we found ourselves approximately 200ft above the ground and, on what was a beautiful day, the view was spectacular. Clearly it benefits the controllers to be able to see the entire airport and its surrounding area in any direction, but for visitors like us, it was a superb and unique perspective. The atmosphere was one of calm in the tower with just three controllers on duty and, while I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting, it was definitely quieter and a smaller team than perhaps I imagined.
ATC is provided at Stansted by NATS, formerly National Air Traffic Services and, in light of recent volcanic ash trials and tribulations, now a household name in the UK and one that many people will have been exposed to for the first time. NATS provides air traffic services at many of the UK's major airports, including all six owned by BAA. Ranging from Heathrow, the world's busiest (in terms of International flights) and Gatwick, which holds the distinction of being the world's busiest single-runway airport, through to the likes of Southampton and Glasgow. NATS is also responsible for managing air traffic at other UK airports (such as Manchester, Birmingham, London City, Luton and Farnborough), operating, in each case, under contract to the airport operator with contracts won on a competitive basis against other service providers.
And that's not all, as NATS is also the UK's sole provider of en route services in the UK, operating from two centres at Swanwick in Hampshire and Prestwick in Ayrshire.
The Swanwick Centre entered operational service in January 2002 and handles aircraft flying over England and Wales, combining the London Area Control Centre (LACC), the London Terminal Control Centre (LTCC) , and finally, military operations. Just to put that in to perspective, LACC manages en route traffic in the London Flight Information Region, including en route airspace over England and Wales as far as the Scottish border.The LTCC meanwhile handles traffic below 24,500 feet flying to or from London's airports. This area, which is one of the busiest in Europe, extends south and east towards the coast, west towards Bristol and north to near Birmingham.
In practice this means that controllers provide an approach service to aircraft inbound to Heathrow, Gatwick and, as demonstrated for the purposes of our visit of course, Stansted. Their job is to ensure that aircraft descend in a safe and orderly stream ready to land at their destination airport. At busy times, aircraft are directed in to holding stacks and from here they descend, under a controller's guidance, before being released for their final approach in a strictly controlled sequence. Aircraft flying from London's airports are handed over to terminal control shortly after take-off. Suddenly, if you were in doubt, the role NATS has played in dealing with the eruptions from our volcanic friend in Iceland is very clear; theirs is a huge responsibility, despite the UK's relatively small size.
While NATS safely handled 2.2 million flights in 2009 (that's more than 200 million passengers!) London Stansted is actually Britain's third busiest airport and handles flights to more than 160 destinations in 30 countries, with the busiest times Damon confirms, coming in waves of arrivals and departures. Our visit, on a Sunday, meant that the airport was not at its busiest, but there was enough going on to give us a good feel for the work the controllers undertake, with one person responsible for the runway operation (arrivals and departures), one for the maneuvering area away from the runway (guiding aircraft to and from the parking stand), and then a supervisor overseeing the entire operation.
Back to our location and the controllers sit at their own consoles which show them the flight plans for aircraft, be they coming or going, and touch screens enable them to update the status of each individual movement. These screens have replaced the classic system where paper strips in coloured plastic holders would demonstrate the status of each aircraft although the original colours have actually been retained in electronic form! The airfield (surface movement) radar, visible on the far side of the runway, provides a complete picture of the maneuvering area and allows the controllers an instant picture of an aircraft's position, be it the runway for take-off or apron for parking.
Touch screens are not the only technological advance in evidence either, with aircraft able to request clearance to depart by datalink - which works essentially in a very similar fashion to text messaging. The box for that aircraft flashes on the controller's monitor when the request is received and, assuming that all is well in the controller's judgement, a series of on-screen clicks clears the aircraft, with no vocal communication actually required. The remainder is largely as you would expect, with the controllers working closely together to ensure their own aircraft remain safely deconflicted, be it on the runway or indeed taxiways and, with some rotary and business aviation to contend with, it can be quite a juggling act, as we saw first hand, despite the relatively quiet period of our visit.
Karl and I were afforded the opportunity to don spare headsets to listen, and watch, as the controllers went about their work and it was impressively smooth, as indeed it should be. Deciphering some of the pilot's accents was the hardest thing I found although I am sure experience helps with that process, as does dealing with pilots who regularly fly out of Stansted and know how things work. Most amusing was one foreign crew who called up to say they would be unable to meet their slot time - not having realised that the clocks had gone back overnight. A common occurrence every year by all accounts!
It was fascinating to spend some time at Stansted to learn a little more about ATC and, as I said earlier, provided a wonderful vantage point for photography; certainly the highest I've viewed aircraft from with my feet still on the ground, as it were! The system at London Stansted, and indeed the bigger picture in terms of that controlled largely courtesy of NATS in the UK is as complex as you would imagine it to be, but equally is run in a very smooth and precise manner.
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