Neues aus London Shitty:
London City remote tower goes live
January 24, 2021
On the evening of Friday 22nd January, the last movement to be given an ATC service from the visual control room at London City Airport took place. From yesterday morning, operations are now provided by staff at the digital/remote tower facility located in Swanwick.
The images are reproduced from 14 HD cameras and two pan-tilt-zoom cameras on a mast on site, and at a location more aligned with the midpoint of the runway, a slight shift away from the current tower location atop the terminal. The cameras provide a full 360 degree view of the airfield compressed in 225°.
Following significant delays for technical reasons before covid and then covid itself, this marks the end of several years of intense preparation by the staff. The recent delays resulted in members at the unit having to shift their plans or manage commutes which has understandably been tough.
Unit rep, Rich Cawley spoke to us about the last few months. After the unit reopened in June 2020 following a near three-month covid closure, there was a focus over the summer on training resulting in several days of ATCO familiarisation as well as a distance learning package. Much of the in-person training consisted of reviewing live replays given that the traffic was simply not there for live shadow modes.
In addition to the transition, the airport now has a new parallel taxiway. The significant drop in traffic of around 90% at times means that the process will be somewhat more straightforward – no flow measures are required for example.
The Branch understands that the last few years have not only been exciting and challenging for our members at London City, but have been difficult for them too.
We would like to express our gratitude to all those who've worked to make the move happen, and wish them all the best of luck at their new location.