BEHIND THE SCENES AT GATWICK AIRPORT - British Airways ...

Below is the other display I will have open whencontrolling on Heathrow Tower. Each controller has theirown setup but I run this on my other monitor so I havegood awareness of ground movement and aircraftarriving and departing – remember I may be controllingthe entire aerodrome.aircraft on approach, CSA650 and about 2(!)Milesbehind him Speedbird 735.Both are squawking mode “Charlie” - if there weren'tthey'd only appear as a small “+” sign with no otherinformation, not even altitude - and the history dots tellus the direction of flight and, to an extent, speed.CSA650 is at Altitude 1,600ft and descending.Speedbird 735 is at Altitude 3,000ft and descending.Both have submitted flight plans with their destination asHeathrow, “LL”. The spoke circle is another aircraft,possibly on the ground but due to its position probablycrossing London above FL80. As a Tower controller I'mnot interested in traffic that high so details aren't given toavoid clutter.The settings for this screen mean that aircraft on theground only appear as circles with spokes, I'm not reallyinterested in that information. What I am interest in hereare the aircraft on approach and, to a certain extent,departing. In this scenario departing aircraft may becomea factor if I get a Go Around. In that case I need tocoordinate with EGLL_N_TWR (departures) andEGLL_N_APP (Director who will handle the aircraftnext).Below is a screenshot from a slightly different setup thatI use for Gatwick Director:Let's have a better look at what I can see on this screen.From a different point during the night here are two32 Airways magazine October/November 2010