Logical Acknowledgement Prohibitted

Well, I just finished my first week of ATC class at DXB…2 more to go. There are 5 of us in our class, an Irishman from Scotland, an Aussie, a Kiwi (originally from Canada) and Rod and I from the states. While they have 2 Americans working in the radar room, we are the only two in the tower. Couple surprises so far; don’t have to get tested on the map or all the city and airline identifiers. That’s probably a good thing. The other thing I have to get used to, is that I’m no longer a radar qualified controller…can’t assign headings.

One of the first things we had to do is sign a form that said English was our mother tongue and we were proficient. I signed with a big smile on my face. Then I went home and read thru the ICAO manuals and realized I may have lied on my form…I didn’t understand half of what I was reading. I think whoever wrote the ICAO is the bastard cousin of the person who wrote the FAA .65. I think the favorite one I came across, and it has sorta become my mantra out here, was a coded SELCAL message…USE OF LOGICAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT PROHIBITED. (I think it means ‘shut up’) A lot of the ICAO phraseology is screwy and I think it only sounds right if you say it with an English accent…so far it doesn’t sound very smooth in my southern American tongue.

Wake turbulence is a big issue here. Probably 80% of their flights are heavy jets. With 2 closely spaced runways it is always something you have to have at the front of your mind. There doesn’t seem to be much room for turning missed approach aircraft, with Sharjah airport 9 km north and the Worlds Tallest building 9 km south…so they stagger the departures with the arrivals regardless of the weather (kind of like the 2 increasing to 3 mile rule at ATL).

I will also be doing ramp control here since they push back onto active taxiways…so that’s something new. Have to get used to a different barometer and visibility measurements. We have procedures to deal with Royalty priority, helos for the police, oil fields, and sightseeing. Helos seem very cumbersome here. Runway separation seems excessive…previous dept must be clear of the departure end or turned clear of the runway before you can land or launch the next , and one of our runways is nearly 3 miles long (no 6000ft and airborne). Basically, I've been told not to worry too much about logic and find a 'happy place.'

There are other head down tasks that you need to do while you are working. Lots of strips (arrival and departure), different ink colors for different positions, stop bar lights that are controlled by the controller, and probably a few others I haven’t discovered.

On the plus side, there are almost no Traffic management issues, and we’ve basically been told that the ‘grey area’ here is pretty big and as long as you are being safe, you can say things the way you feel comfortable. We will also be able to drive vehicles around the airport—ATC does the runway checks on the weekends....so cool!

Our class day is usually 5-6 hours—no lunch break. We do get plenty of short breaks and the staff is quite understanding if you need to stretch it out to make some calls or do something move related. We also have access to the Departure Terminal and there are places to eat up there…And we get a discount!

Everyone has been treating us very well. Luke is our primary instructor and is a very laid back Aussie. He organized a trip to the pub after class Thursday. Mohammed Dosari, or Dos, is a Saudi and gave us some background on the local culture, and will be teaching us in the simulator.
We are on 12-8 shifts this week, except Thur. Simulator starts in anger on Wed. and I will be a permanent resident in my 'happy place' mumbling my mantra.