London FIR
ADC Procedures
Air Controller:
The AIR controller is responsible for all movements on the nominated landing/departure runway. AIR operates on frequency 124.225.
AIR is responsible for deciding on the runway in use.
If a helicopter requires permission to cross the airfield, this must be done on the AIR frequency.
Ground Movement Controller:
GMC is responsible for all ground movements. GMC operates on frequency
121.800. GMC is a continuous operation and all surface movement of aircraft,
vehicles and personnel on the
Manoeuvring Area is subject to ATC authority.
Aerodrome Traffic Monitor (ATM):
Gatwick is fitted with an ATM and this can be simulated on IVAO. It has a range of about 15nm and displays SSR labels with mode C read out. The ATM may be used to:
- Determine the landing order, spacing and distance from touchdown information of arriving aircraft
- Identify departing aircraft and validate the SSR codes.
- Monitor the progress of over flying aircraft
- Establishing separation between departing aircraft
- Pass traffic information
- Establish separation in the event of a missed approach
- assist in taking corrective action when separation between arriving aircraft becomes less than the prescribed minima.
Wind Shear:
When a pilot reports wind shear, this must be passed to inbound and outbound aircraft until the report appears on the ATIS. Reports should contain the following information:
- Warning of the presence of wind shear
- Height or height band and time the wind shear was encountered
- Details of the effect on the aircraft
Braking Action:
If there is a cause to believe that braking action is less than good, this must be confirmed and information should be passed to departing and arriving aircraft.
Aerodrome operating minima and absolute minima:
Full details about Aerodrome operating minima and absolute minima can be found in MATS Part 1, Page 174 onwards.
Departure Separations:
Separation between departing aircraft is applied so that after one aircraft takes off, the next aircraft does not take-off with less than the number of minutes needed. Departure separations are specified in 3 ways, Vortex, departure and departure speed separation. When calculating the correct departure separation, the highest of the 3 values is the one to use.
Vortex Separations:
Departing from the same take-off position:
Leading Aircraft |
Following Aircraft |
Minimum Spacing |
Heavy |
Medium |
2 minutes |
Small |
||
Light |
2 minutes |
|
Medium or Small |
Light |
Departing from an intermediate take-off point
Leading Aircraft |
Following Aircraft |
Minimum Spacing |
Heavy
|
Medium |
3 minutes
|
Small |
||
Light |
3 minutes
|
|
Medium or Small |
Light |
Departure Separations:
1 minute - Aircraft fly on tracks diverging by 45 degrees or more immediately after take-off.
2 minutes - Provided that the preceding aircraft has filed a true airspeed 40kts or more faster than the following and neither aircraft is cleared to execute any manoeuvre that would decrease the 2 minute separation
5 minutes - Provided that the preceding aircraft has filed a ture airspeed of 20-39kts faster than the following aircraft
10 minutes - Any other case
Departure Speed Separation:
Aircraft types have been grouped. The fastest group is Group 3, the slowest Group 0
Group 3 |
Group 2 |
Group 1 |
Group 0 |
All jets excluding C501 & C551 |
C501 |
A748 |
BE99 |
C531 |
ATP |
DC3 |
|
L188 |
AT43/44/45/72 |
DH6 |
|
BE20 |
E110 |
||
DHC7 |
SH36 |
||
DH8A/8B/8C/8D |
|||
E120 |
|||
F27 |
|||
F50 |
|||
G159 |
|||
JS31/32/41 |
|||
SF34 |
|||
SW3/4 |
A basic separation of 2 minutes is used. When a faster aircraft follows a slower aircraft the minimum separation is increased by one minute for each successive group. For example:
A group 3 following a group 2 aircraft = 3 minutes
A group 3 aircraft following a group 1 aircraft = 4 minutes
Aircraft of the same group following each other may use 1 minute
Squawk Allocation:
TC Gatwick:
3750 - 3763
Gatwick Tower:
3764 - 3767