SubscribeA £1.5 million state-of-the-art simulator at Heathrow is preparing controllers to work in the airport’s new control tower, which opens this winter. Ray Philpott looks at how Europe’s most advanced simulator will help NATS.
Martyn Jeffery interviewed on top of the new tower by the BBC at the media launch of the simulator.
As you walk into the simulator at Heathrow you instantly know this is something very special. Taking up a whole room in the old Control Tower Building, it replicates the layout of Heathrow's new tower, complete with a 360-degree view of the airport as it appears from 300 feet up!
The machine can duplicate any kind of weather and simulate any kind of aircraft landing or taking off.
Snow, sleet, rain, fog, jumbos, freighters, business jets night and day, winter or summer - it's all there. It certainly caught the attention of the BBC and national newspapers who visited it on a recent media day.
Dale Reeson - a Heathrow controller with six years' experience under his belt - is impressed.
"Once you are in here you forget it is a simulator and start thinking of it as the real thing - your reactions are the same, and like the real tower you can see for miles," said Dale, pictured on the front of this issue.
The new simulator gives controllers a superb grounding
"It really has got everything we will be using, including ground radar and the new Electronic Flight Progress Strips (EFPS) system which replaces the paper strips we use currently and enables us to share and exchange data with the airport and airlines far more easily.
"This is the first time civil aviation in the UK has had a 360-degree simulator and I think it gives the controllers the best possible training they could have before going into the real tower this winter."
Pseudo pilots
To make scenarios as realistic as possible, simulator aircraft are actually 'flown' by an eight-strong team of 'pseudo pilots' who communicate with controllers just like real pilots.
The pseudo pilots are air traffic service assistants recruited externally who themselves undergo six months' training to carry out this vital task.
Based in a room nearby they are under the watchful eye of Airport Simulator Manager Gary Vernon-Wilson, who not only trains and directs them but also manages, creates and loads the various simulations and exercises for the simulator.
"Our people are highly skilled. They fly the simulator aircraft but also have to know how controllers would behave and act and be fully aware of real airport procedures."
Pseudo Pilots Deliver Realistic Scenarios To The Simulator
Adrian Dolan, NATS' Head of Training at the airport, said: "It's a superb training tool for controllers as we prepare for the move to the new tower - and the best possible foundation we could ever manage at an increasingly complex airport. It's really lifted our capability for training in unusual circumstances and emergencies because it can simulate aircraft with problems like engine fires and landing gear failures."
The simulator operates as a standalone unit and is gong to be very busy, as it will also provide simulations for other airports in future.
Martyn Jeffery, NATS' General Manager at Heathrow, said: "We knew we faced a massive training task - especially with the new electronic strips - and realised a 360-degree simulator was essential.
"We went from business case to 'switch on' in just six months last year, and worked closely with NATS' Human Factors team and controllers to devise
the training programme."
For more information contact Martyn Jeffery on martyn.jeffery@nats.co.uk
NATS Facts
- The simulator is 10 metres in diameter
- It takes 375 hours to train a new controller for Heathrow
- New controllers will spend up to 100 hours on the simulator
- Experienced controllers and support staff will spend 24 hours converting to the new tower
- More than 50 controllers will have been through the simulator when the new tower opens
Right: The New Tower at Heathrow