Brandon Nickens - Intro to Aeronautics

     The air traffic control tower is one of the icons of many airports. The massive building not only gives a great view of the airport but it is a place that they coordinate takeoffs, landings, ground traffic, and promote the overall safety of aviation. The air traffic control system in the USA. is run by the FAA and split up into 5 divisions: The Air Traffic Control System Command Centers (ATCSCC), Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCC), Air Traffic Control Towers (ATCT), Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRAC), and the Flight Service Station (FSS) (PHAK, 2016). In this blog I'll be discussing the Air Traffic Control Towers and the Flight Service Station. ( The tower above is located at  Kingsford Smith Airport Control Tower in Sydney, Australia)      An Air Traffic Control Tower will advise and update pilots regarding nearby planes and hazardous conditions, issue landing and take-off instructions and clearances, monitor and direct aircraft within...

    Ice and snow are one of the few events that can quickly and totally shut down an airport. We have already explored the dangers that ice can impose on aircraft, how it increases aircraft weight, decreases the lift generated, and how it interferes with pitot-static instruments. Those alone make ice a massive safety issue and would put it on any airport manager's radar instantly. I will explore the impact on airport infrastructure and their managers.     As anyone that has lived in a cold place, ice and snow can make things quite... slippy, to say the least. While an obvious effect to that issue lies on the runway, where aircraft cannot get enough traction to slow themselves down, it is also an issue for all other ground crew as well. For ice, it can make any operation dangerous, where personnel and equipment can slip. For snow, it creates a barrier to for everyone to get through and can even block aircraft and equipment from moving  (Government of Canada,...

We all know the events that took place on September 11th, 2001 all too well. Not only did it mark the first time in civil aviation's history that the FAA halted all air traffic, it drove the development of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act of 2001 to be signed just over 2 months. The Aviation and Transportation Security Act established the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) as a part of the Department of Transportation and it would later fall under the Department of Homeland Security. This drove aviation security to be a federal manner, rather than an airport and airline responsibility as it once was. The Transportation Security Act strengthened passenger and luggage screening protocols, placed federal standards on the hiring and training of the security personnel, increased the training and awareness of in-flight security, drastically increased the number of air marshals in civil aviation, and strengthened the communication between various federal agencies. (T...

     Every day, millions of interactions take place within the field of aviation. If it is a crew member nonverbally communicating with a passenger or a pilot speaking to ATC, each interaction will further push the culture one direction or another ( National Academy Press, 1998) . I'd define human factors with three terms: How people communicate, interact with the tools and vehicles provided, and the environment they are placed in (PHAK, 2020). Any way that people can influence the outcome of the desired final product is a point to be examined. Where I work, I am a part of the ground crew that services aircraft, on the passenger side of business, and there are many levels of communication that are in between the aircraft and me. Take an example, the pilot is requesting lavatory service. The pilot will talk to his ground rep. (a person that works for the airline and is a liaison/load planner with the military on contract), they will talk to ATOC (our operations control), t...

    The decades-old mentality  that  “ the customer is always righ t ”  is starting to show how it weakens and undermines airport security.   The COVID-19 pandemic has seen a steady rise in the number of  unruly passengers who  resist both Federal regulations and individual airline policies. T hose who  fail to  comply endanger not only their fellow passengers and flight crew members, but also put strain on security systems already in place.    In a  recent  unruly passenger case , a  man was  escorted off an American Airlines flight  by  Salt Lake City police  after he was  observed  yelling and growling at a flight attendant ( Proffer, 2021). This case is not unique. A spokesperson from South west Airlines, Chris Mainz, reported  on another case from this summer where   " l aw enforcement officials were requested to meet the flight upon arrival, and the passenger was...