The operation moved from West Drayton to Swanwick on November 23, 2007 and handles civilian and military traffic.
Terminal Control
Controllers in the terminal control room handle traffic below 24,500 feet flying to or from London’s airports in what is known as the London Terminal Control Area. 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. Controllers provide an approach service to aircraft inbound to Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted ensuring aircraft descend in a safe and orderly stream ready to land. At busy times, aircraft are directed to holding stacks. Here they descend, under the controller’s guidance, before being sequenced and released for their final approach. Aircraft flying from London’s airports are handed over to terminal control shortly after take-off. The controllers then guide the aircraft into the airways where they are passed on to staff in the area control operations room at Swanwick.
Fact File:
- Terminal control is housed in a custom-built operations room at Swanwick.
- Controllers use full-colour monitors to give high picture quality.
- Computer style on-screen menus, controlled by tracker ball, allow controllers to set up the required displays.
- Links to external data systems provide information on weather conditions, arrival orders of inbound flights and pending departures.
- Controllers handle flights to and from Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, London City, Northolt and Biggin Hill.
Military Air Traffic Control
Military controllers provide services to civil and military aircraft operating outside controlled airspace. The military controllers work closely with civilian controllers to ensure safe co-ordination of traffic.
Military services include:
- aid to aircraft in distress
- radar control to aircraft flying in uncontrolled airspace above 24,500 feet
- radar control of aircraft crossing national airways
- Controllers use radar screens
Engineering
To ensure the highest levels of safety, controllers need highly reliable equipment. LTCC engineers are responsible for maintaining integrated systems that support around 250 civilian and military ATC positions. Engineers operate comprehensive safety management procedures to safeguard these vital functions. System control ensures 24 hours a day, 365 days a year radar and radio coverage. LTCC engineers also run the National Airspace System - a computer system that holds a database of all scheduled flights and provides flight progress strips to the controllers.
Fact File:
- LTCC receives radar information from 12 radar sites, as far apart as Heathrow airport to a site atop Great Dun Fell in the Pennines.
- Radar and radio information in continuously recorded for incident analysis.
- Engineers ensure 21 transmitter and receiver sites provide radio coverage via more than 140 channels.
