Tag: tower

At the tail end of the darkest year

Luckily, the failure of Ferihegy tower did not last long. But it was nevertheless long enough to cause misery to thousands of travelers. A few of them tried to find alternative means of transport, like taking a bus to Vienna and trying to secure a seat on planes there. Others, resigned to their fate, just… Continue reading At the tail end of the darkest year

Transition

Following our late-autumn holiday, returning to our dearly loved capital city’s even more beloved airport, we once again struck the strings in the thick of life. There was no time to get bored, in part because of the frequent foggy weather but even more, since air traffic control’s history had entered a new phase. Apparently… Continue reading Transition

The First Day in the Tower Without MALEV

We woke to a sad day on 4 February 2012. We had every reason to be happy… winter had arrived and we were looking forward to some serious snowfall. Of course for those on day-shift this was also cause for a bit of apprehension, what with the memories of a day two years ago when… Continue reading The First Day in the Tower Without MALEV

Winter season survived at Ferihegy

It would appear that we have survived the 2011 winter season without major hiccups. Events arose only when a bored office-bug decided to fabricate an elephant from a flea… Luckily either they were not bored enough or there was a lack of fleas but the number of overblown events were also thankfully low. What was… Continue reading Winter season survived at Ferihegy

Changes are coming to a tower near you – the Distant Aerodrome Control Service

DFS, the German ANSP will be introducing its Distant Aerodrome Control Service for the first time at ATC Global Amsterdam (8 to 10 March). Using the Distant Aerodrome Control Service, aerodrome controllers can switch between the display of visual information and sensor data. They are no longer primarily reliant on the direct out-of-window view. Aerodrome… Continue reading Changes are coming to a tower near you – the Distant Aerodrome Control Service

The long and winding road – women in the cockpit and the control tower

To-day, nobody bats an eye at the sight of a four-striper with long blond hair and lipstick hauling her flight case like her male colleagues do. Even an all female crew in the front office is commonplace these days. A female voice on the control frequency is also quite normal now in most of the… Continue reading The long and winding road – women in the cockpit and the control tower

When things go wrong…

The aviation industry has such a wonderful safety record that people boarding an aircraft rarely, if ever, think about the possibility of an accident happening to them. Of course the same people will have driven down the highway to the airport similarly unaware that, statistically, they were in a much more dangerous place than on… Continue reading When things go wrong…