ATC Tour

fsiflyer

fsiflyer

Well-Known Member
Hi Guys,
I have a very good friend who is a controller with Moscow Approach. He is obviously a Russian citizen. Currently, he is spearheading a group to be able to come to the USA and take a tour of a facility, so they could learn how we do things here and hopefully pass down some knowledge. We handle a lot more traffic than the Russians currently do. Is anything like this possible? I believe building these cross national friendships can be quite beneficial. I look forward to hearing from you all.
 
I know a guy formerly from LGA I worked with who told me of a group of controllers from Gatwick who toured LGA. Hilarity ensued. Not the Benny Hill kind. More like the I thought this was an ATARI, not actual ATC equipment kind. To add I believe at the academy I saw controllers from at least 30 different countries. Its doable for sure. There are even procedures at larger facilities to OK non citizens taking tours. Most of my family aren't US citizens, which is how I'd know. Obviously a last minute schedule change of a VIP could have a very long planned tour cancelled in a moments notice, but if someone is coming all the way from Russia, I'm pretty sure it isn't a we only have this day in this two hour time period sort of thing.

PM me if you have any questions. I'm not entirely certain of the process but I know it can be done. I'll ask around, they don't by chance play hockey do they? A little late for the international ATC hockey tournament this year though.
 
We had a group from China visit a few months ago.........albeit, they were extremely restricted in what they could see from what I understand.
 
fsiflyer said:
Hi Guys,
I have a very good friend who is a controller with Moscow Approach. He is obviously a Russian citizen. Currently, he is spearheading a group to be able to come to the USA and take a tour of a facility, so they could learn how we do things here and hopefully pass down some knowledge. We handle a lot more traffic than the Russians currently do. Is anything like this possible? I believe building these cross national friendships can be quite beneficial. I look forward to hearing from you all.
Click to expand...

Contact somebody that is in charge of Public Relations for the facility that you want to tour, just FYI, the minute you mention Non-US Citizen, it starts to get complicated......
 
Not quite the same but I know UND Aerospace sets up international training on US systems. We had Norwegian here for the longest time. They set up tours of Minneapolis center and a few local towers. Goodluck.
 
Towers aren't very difficult, however for non-US citizens, getting access to TRACONs and ARTCCs can be very difficult.
 
Got the grand tour of MCO tower and TRACON and it was great and educational. Have a friend in the radar room and got the full tour. Recently took a tower tour at KMCO and they were super nice, cool to put a face to the "voices in my head"

I must say the biggest point of amazement was with all the top of the line radar and technology, they use primitive wooden blocks to keep aircraft in order/position. One controller said some tech co tried to come up with a program but there were things the program could not do so they stay with the blocks. I love it. just cool to see some things still rely on human factor, fully.

Take a tour!
 
Funny, we were just talking about this today. Apparently, foreign nationals require a 10-day advance notice, but I'm not 100% sure on how it works. Call the facility, and the ATM can definitely hunt down the answers.
 
Thanks everyone. I am in contact with a JC'er and we are working to gain the proper access for this group. Hopefully if all goes well the Russian controllers can return the favor and show their facility to our guys. I love seeing cross-cultural exchanges.
 
Nobody comes to visit us...

Probably has something to do with being in a place nobody has ever heard of o_O
 
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