Mickey530 wrote:

Toy? they were used a Cairns Airfield, just a few miles from Ft
Rucker Alabama, for the US Army helicopter and US Air Force Air
Traffic
Controller schools. 2 million watts is not a toy. It had a 200 mile
maximum range, and was built by Westinghouse. Two complete, hot
systems
that could be switched over at the flip of a switch, if there was any
problems. Five techs on duty, 24/7 doing routine maintenance, and
emergency repairs. If they went down, two schools and 17 airfields
were
shut down to all non instrument rated pilots.


The US Air Force's air traffic control school was and (assuming they
cleaned up after Katrina) is at Keesler AFB, Biloxi, Mississipi. As
was the radar technician school. I was an Air Traffic Controller in
the Air Force from 1975-1982.


The school was, and still is run by the Army, but the students were
mostly Air Force in '72 & '73 when I maintained the 'Weathervision' and
ETV distribution systems. In fact, the only mess hall at Cairns
Airfield was Air Force, and the refused to allow any Army personnel eat
there. The Air Force barracks were at the airfield, as well. If you do
a little research, you'll discover that installation now has the newest
ATC simulator available.


I was never trained in RADAR work. They were short handed at one
point due to people on leave, and several sick techs, so they 'borrowed'
me for a few days. I was paired with a condescending jerk who was busy
trying to tell me that I couldn't possibly grasp the complexities of a
RADAR system. While he was talking, I had already found the problem,
and made the repairs. At every worksite, I found the problem, while he
was dragging in his cart full of tools and test equipment. He was very
****ed, but his boss tried several times to have me transferred to his
section. He laughed when he asked about my training, and I told him
that a RADAR system was a stripped down TV system, and that I had read
and studied some WWII aircraft RADAR while in high school. He was
stunned to learn that I had tested out of all military electronics
training, and had only been in the military for six months. Does anyone
else remember the 15R and 15E tubes used in those WWII RADAR systems?


At no time did we use "live" radar. It was all simulation. Control
tower training (as opposed to radar training) consisted of students
holding toy airplanes in position as instructed over a ping-pong type
table which had been painted to resemble an airport. Some guys got
pretty good at imitating a cessna's engine noise. ; -)

Further, in both the Air Force and FAA, radar failures were and are
still common.


GEE, the FAA was building their regional office at Ft Rucker while I
was stationed there. It took so long to build their fancy office
building/data center (1000 phone lines) that they had to install their
mainframe computer in an old wooden barracks building. That left the
huge computer room with the raised floor sitting empty. I suggested
they move the ETV studios to the building, and vacate the WWII wood
building they were in. The control room for the computers was bigger
than their current studio.


That was one of the major issues that caused the
controller strike in 1982. We had to then convert to non radar
procedures. which consisted of, among other things, increasing
spacing and having the pilots report "fixes". Airports do not close
because of these failures. Non-Instrument rated pilots do not as a
rule use the ATC system except for radar advisories and controllers
provide this service to VFR pilots on a time permitting basis.


The airfield was used to train pilots on their way to Vietnam, and
working with the air traffic controllers was a big part of their
training. Any failure over 15 minutes in the 'Weathervision' system
would close the school, too. We ar talking about student pilots, not
certified. The only certified pilots were the instructors. Most of the
students left the area as soon as they were qualified pilots.


The
exception is the airspace near large airports and certain other high
traffic areas.


Cairns Airfield has some of the highest ATC traffic of any airfield.
I don't think you understand how busy the place was, and is.

--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida