Author Topic: Tour of ATC facility for birthday  (Read 6147 times)

Offline Chananya Freedman

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Tour of ATC facility for birthday
« on: November 06, 2018, 01:01:21 PM »
Happy Tuesday everyone. I am thinking about what I could do for my 30th birthday coming up this month and I thought maybe if i could get a tour of an ATC facility (Tracon or Tower Facility) in the Los Angeles area that would be awesome! Does anyone either have connections that could help me out? Or have advice for me on how i can get this done without paying like 300$.
thanks guys



Offline tyketto

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Re: Tour of ATC facility for birthday
« Reply #1 on: November 07, 2018, 04:07:08 AM »

I don't remember anyone ever having to pay for this either, especially in the US, as the facilities are all taxpayer funded.

But I would agree with finding the facility you'd like to tour in question and giving them at least 2 weeks notice that you'd like to tour. I was just at the California Capital Airshow at KMHR at the beginning of October, and NATCA had a couple of reps there from NCT (Northern California TRACON - NorCal Approach), which is only 1/4 mile off the approach end of 22L at KMHR, and they even mentioned just giving a call for any tours at least a week in advance, and they'd be happy to accommodate.

So definitely do that, and you'll be good. If you plan on SCT though, be sure to make the drive down to San Diego, as the whole entire SoCal basin is covered down there.

BL.

Offline Chananya Freedman

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Re: Tour of ATC facility for birthday
« Reply #2 on: November 07, 2018, 01:52:32 PM »
Anyone know if these facilities are wheelchair accessible ?

Offline tyketto

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Re: Tour of ATC facility for birthday
« Reply #3 on: November 08, 2018, 05:13:31 PM »
Anyone know if these facilities are wheelchair accessible ?

The TRACON will be, yes. If SCT is anything set up like NCT, it should be very accessible. NCT is set up with each area being a spoke in a spoke/hub setup, with central management in the middle of the open area. I would assume SCT would be the same.

Towers on the other hand, may not be, especially depending on when they were last renovated. It was so tight and crowded in the elevator at SMF that the bulk of us took the stairs. LAS is newer and definitely more accessible, but it all depends on what tower you want to visit.

Best bet is to call the tower when you're scheduling the tour and ask how accessible they are.

BL.

Offline Chananya Freedman

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Re: Tour of ATC facility for birthday
« Reply #4 on: November 08, 2018, 06:48:22 PM »
SCT is too far away for me, however, I'm working on getting in touch with ZLA. BUR, the person I need to talk  to  was not in today when I called, she had left early. However, I'm gonna try calling her again tomorrow. I will update you with any information I get, and once the tour is done I will start a second thread with my observations.

Offline tyketto

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Re: Tour of ATC facility for birthday
« Reply #5 on: November 10, 2018, 03:02:59 PM »
SCT is too far away for me, however, I'm working on getting in touch with ZLA. BUR, the person I need to talk  to  was not in today when I called, she had left early. However, I'm gonna try calling her again tomorrow. I will update you with any information I get, and once the tour is done I will start a second thread with my observations.

For ZLA, that will be a trip out to Lancaster/Palmdale, so be prepared for that. I do have some friends working there, so it should be fairly easy to get into there. BUR will be easy as well, as it isn't as busy as LAX. Again, 2 weeks notice should be more than enough to get in.

BL.

Offline Chananya Freedman

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Re: Tour of ATC facility for birthday
« Reply #6 on: November 12, 2018, 01:22:27 PM »
SCT is too far away for me, however, I'm working on getting in touch with ZLA. BUR, the person I need to talk  to  was not in today when I called, she had left early. However, I'm gonna try calling her again tomorrow. I will update you with any information I get, and once the tour is done I will start a second thread with my observations.

For ZLA, that will be a trip out to Lancaster/Palmdale, so be prepared for that. I do have some friends working there, so it should be fairly easy to get into there. BUR will be easy as well, as it isn't as busy as LAX. Again, 2 weeks notice should be more than enough to get in.

BL.

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Offline Comfirm31L

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Re: Tour of ATC facility for birthday
« Reply #7 on: November 13, 2018, 11:25:12 AM »
Make sure you bring coffee/cookies etc.

Offline Chananya Freedman

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Re: Tour of ATC facility for birthday
« Reply #8 on: December 11, 2018, 04:20:58 PM »
Date of tour is currently set for the 20th. Date may change. further updates to follow. I have been busy with other stuff and thats why I haven't had a chance to post this update

Offline Chananya Freedman

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Re: Tour of ATC facility for birthday
« Reply #9 on: December 28, 2018, 03:10:19 PM »
Date had to be moved. New date is February 1st. Happy New Year everyone.

Offline captkel

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Re: Tour of ATC facility for birthday
« Reply #10 on: December 29, 2018, 07:35:36 AM »
Happy New Year  :-D

Offline Twocky61

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Re: Tour of ATC facility for birthday
« Reply #11 on: December 30, 2018, 09:19:46 AM »
Not sure if UK CAA would allow tours around ATC facilities

Live UK ATC isn't even available on Live ATC Net; probably to do with the fact UK's Freedom of Information act is pretty dire unlike the US

Offline Squawk 7700

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Re: Tour of ATC facility for birthday
« Reply #12 on: December 30, 2018, 11:25:08 PM »
Looking forward to that tour report  :-D

Happy New Year to you!

Offline tyketto

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Re: Tour of ATC facility for birthday
« Reply #13 on: January 01, 2019, 04:28:30 PM »
Not sure if UK CAA would allow tours around ATC facilities

Live UK ATC isn't even available on Live ATC Net; probably to do with the fact UK's Freedom of Information act is pretty dire unlike the US

You should be able to tour facilities in the UK, as there isn't a rule or a law preventing that. However, the problem with not having any ATC streams in the UK has to do with the British Telephony Acts of 1949 and 200...2006, IIRC. They basically state that the communications being listened to are only for those who are direct parties to it. Any rebroadcasting of those (because the 3rd party is not the intended recipient) is illegal.

But this has nothing to do with not being able to tour any facilities. I did some reading on this because I thought that the Act was repealed (which it was, but replaced with basically the same).

BL.