Staying Organized When Working Busy Bravo Ground

[Caleb Duress 1383581]

I was yesterday working on my cl[Mod - Happy Thoughts] bravo checkout, at the beginning it worked well but when I started getting both clearances and taxis I started getting disorganized giving awkward clearances and awkward taxi instructions. For example, taxiing a GA a long distance when there was a taxiway that went straight to the runway. And forgetting whether I issued a clearance to someone. I'm wanting to be able to issue clearances a lot faster, at times especially when I was then given another request and at times by the time I'd come back I'd have 4 requests, and 4 minutes p[Mod - Happy Thoughts] along with taxi requests. Any tips for staying organized while working ground with spontaneous requests for clearances and taxis? And speed up giving clearances.

[Jouka Ahponen]

First of course experience. While you gain hiurs and experience you'll naturally find better ways to work eith traffic more efficientky and faster without you really even noticing it.

 

Second comes prioritisarion. One of the most important things every controller should know but I still find some controllers lacking especially in big top-down situations. Remember that clearances can always wait for a bit, the aircraft is not koving and most likely is not about to move in the next 10 minutes from requesting clearance. So simply put them on standby list. During that time work efficientky your airbourne traffic because it's much harder to stop a flying aircraft than one taxiing. After airbourne traffic handle taxiing ground traffic. With experience you can make your prioritisation and scan very good and work traffic much more seamlessly and controlled.

 

Last bit I am going to add here is, make use of text aliases. They shorten the time you need to handle text pilots to less than it takes to handle voice pilots. Therefore you save actual time for your scan and thinking instead of writing messages.

[Andreas Fuchs]

What Jouka said.

 

And consider using PDC.

[Ryan Savara 1369362]

If you're using VRC, and have two monitors, consider using flight strips. For the cab controllers, strips are something that either help or hurt your productivity. Each strips has 9 boxes on the right side, which can be used to store text. Only you can see the information (unless you push the strip), and it can be highly effective for ground controllers. For example, in one box I put either a C, P, or T. Clearance, Push, or Taxi. If you're running multiple runways, another box can have what runway they are going to. In another box, I put a lowercase r if they called me and I can't call them back right away.

 

Another feature VRC has is the request list. Just select the aircraft, then press your aircraft select key again. This will create a separate section from the Departures and Arrivals. You can put multiple aircraft on it, it shows you what order they are in, and how long they've been on the list. There is also a sound that goes off every 30 seconds or minute, but that can be disabled.

 

 

If you're using Euroscope, make use of the Departure List. You can go in and edit it and add the Ground Status field, which has three options: Push, Taxi, and Dep. By utilizing these, you also get a departure order, another field of information you can choose to have. There's also a flight strip plugin you could find.

 

 

As mentioned before, time management is key. I use my request list only for clearances. The rest get instant replies for the most part. If you can send a guy over to tower early (no conflicting traffic and he's near the end of his taxi), do it so it's one less thing you have to worry about. Also know your alias file like the back of your hand. It helps with text pilots and pilots who might have difficulties understanding instructions. I use it if I have to repeat myself more than twice on frequency.

 

PDC works only in some situations. In the US, not all pilots file a correct or good enough flight plan, so PDCs go out the window. However you can get a dozen or more of them out in less than a minute, saving from long reads and incorrect readbacks.

 

Ultimately it comes down to your controlling style and proficiency. Some controllers [Mod - Happy Thoughts]ign squawks to everyone as soon as they connect, others only do it when giving the clearance. Everyone's style and technique is different. You just have to find what works for you.