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Show MISSION hi - llpi - fT irnJ ' r- - . - 1 ; - r; y k ' . 1 - - fz IT" ; U.S. Air Photos by Dave Harris Controlling the skies Above, , Force the Hill AFB cont- rol tower is responsible for all incoming and out- going air traffic such as this 6 Fighting Falcon, F-1- ;J i 'I assigned to the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing, touching down for a landing. Far left, SSgt. Chris Green, of the 1881st Com- munications Squadron, tracks local air traffic by radar. Left, SSgt. Michael Smith, also attached to the 1881st CS, visually tracks local air traffic while (soddOp by Debbie Christiansen Hilltop Times staff writer Talk about an office with a view. Even when the weather is bad, air traffic controllers at Hill AFB's control tower can" see" with radar. For these members of the 1881st Communications Squadron, managing air traffic in and out of Hill is no small task. "We are one of the busiest single runway operations in the Air Force," said Capt. Peter Bailey, chief of air traffic control operations. Based on the amount of traffic a tower directs, it receives a rating of one, two or three three being the busiest. Hill is rated a three. To have more than 1,000 operations in a day is not uncommon here. More than 125,000 operations are recorded each year. An average day, Monday through Friday, will see 300-45- 0 aircraft come through. Weekends see a lot of transient aircraft, often making it busier than a weekday, said SMSgt. Steven Hammond, chief controller. About 85 percent of the total traffic comes from the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing, he said. They also 6514th support such groups as the 419th TFW, theaddition in Hill Aero Club, Test Squadron and the to the transient" aircraft passing through. Air traffic control on base is made up of two parts: the control tower itself and the radar final control the confacility, which is located on the ninth floor of of five a staff manned by trol tower. The tower is 24 hours a day, seven days a week, while radar final control operates weekdays with a staff of two from 7:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. At the radar facility, controllers have the ability to talk down an aircraft to within 100 feet elevation mile out from the runway, Captain and is primarily done when the weather This said. Bailey is bad and visibility is low. one-quart- er 8 giving verbal QQUGQ Air traffic controllers learn the basics at Keesler AFB, Miss., but every base is different so newcomers to Hill spend eight to 12 months learning details about the base. For example, Hill shares its air space with the Ogden Airport and controllers also learn to deal with such factors as the mountains nearby and canyon winds, he said. Trainees are always supervised by a rated controller when they are on duty. Their progress is monitored and their training adjusted to help them strengthen weaknesses. Upon completion of training, they earn a control tower operator certificate, which is a Federal Aviation Association rating, said Captain Bailey. The quality of Hill's training program, under MSgt. Vasco M. Campos, chief of air traffic control for itself. training, speaks rate in the field is 5 perThe normal wash-ou- t cent, but there hasn't been a trainee fail here in well over four years, Captain Bailey said. "That's a pretty good accomplishment being a level three tower," he said. Pressure comes with the job, but there is pressure in any job. The thing that makes it different for air traffic controllers is that they can't control how much work they have to do. They must handle whatever comes their way, whether it's 15 aircraft at once or just one, Captain Bailey said. It can also be mentally tiring to concentrate and focused on one thing for so long, he said. stay ' 'Controllers have to think fast. The airplanes are moving pretty quick and your mindyour plan of action has to be one step ahead of the aircraft," to be Captain Bailey said. "Most of all, you have in a around to split quick enough change everything an declared an aircraft emergency second. Maybe and needs immediate landing clearance. All airborne aircraft have to be rearranged in the sky and 30-3- rese-quenced- ." It's like playing chess, only faster, said Sergeant Hammond. "Every time a pilot flies an aircraft, his life and the lives of every passenger on every aircraft are in the hands of an air traffic controller he never sees. The pilot doesn't turn, climb, descend or even taxi out of parking unless he's received a clearance from a controller," Captain Bailey said. Controllers must maintain a calm voice, even in . the most stressful situations. "The controller may be so nervous or overloaded that he or she is SCTeaming at every other controller in the tower, but when the microphone is keyed,7 a controller's voice should be rock steady. You've got to sound authoritative. You've got to remain in control," he said. Air traffic controllers also have to have a certain amount of skepticism. "You can't believe what you hear. You've got to see it with your own eyes. If an aircraft reports its gear down, we still put the binoculars on him and visually check that his gear is down. Pilots have a lot to do in the cockpit, especially in a single-sefighter. You never know what's going to happen," Captain Bailey said. Sergeant Hammond said two aircraft have been . saved by observant controllers during the four years he has been at Hill. Captain Bailey said that because controllers work on a daily basis to help accomplish the Air Force's mission to fly it keeps them motivated, dedicat. ed and trying their best. And it shows. Hill's MSgt. Ralph Bradshaw Jr. was chosen Logistics Communications Division's . Air Traffic Control Watch Supervisor of the Year for 1989. Another of Hill's air traffic controllers, SSgt. E. Theodore Bond II, was named 1989 Air at Traffic Controller of the Year. And the air traffic control complex was selected as Complex of the Year by Logistics Communications Division Headquarters in 1985 and 1986. |