Air traffic control student's perspective

Another phraseology error I noticed is the first time we see the Thornton character controlling traffic he says something like "reduce speed to two thirty" instead of "two three zero" as it's supposed to be. He does this a couple of times with different speeds and different jets. But it did seem pretty accurate in general.

Have you ever spent time in LaGuardia's tower cab? They DO speak that fast! Ground control had my head spinning! I guess it depends on the complexity of the facility. If you've got a dozen aircraft on one frequency, you can't afford to take your time.

In my 11 years in ATC, I heard plenty of controllers speak that fast in the higher density TRACONs. The key is clarity -- if what you say is clearly anunciated, pilots don't need you to repeat it. Having to ask for a repeat in the middle of ORD approach airspace is fatal. All in all, I thought it was above average for movies getting an accurate read on something that is rather esoteric and clannish. For the person asking the student if he'd seen anything close to a collision - I can remember being told by a supervisor in a tower cab that if you didn't have at least one go-around per hour during rush hour, you weren't moving traffic fast enough. I've never seen a collision but I've seen a couple of near misses. I've seen minor crashes - collapsed landing gear, running off runways, etc. I had friends working in SUX the afternoon the UAL232 DC-10 crash-landed and I've heard the tapes of the tower chief talking to the Central Region command center and it's pretty traumatic listening to him describe the crash - partly because I had worked with the guy. For me what made the film accurate wasn't the technical crap - it was the competitive personalities and the psychological stress of recovering from a deal. Now THAT stuff was pretty realistic!

after the orignal poster made his post, he should've yelled out loud, THANK YOU GOOGLE SEARCH ENGINE!!!

no im kidding, I think he knows his stuff, and it's sorta interesting.

"Not only is life a bitch but it also has puppies."

I was gonna say 250, but i thought it might be different here in NZ :)

carry on...

250 KIAS is what the FAR 91.117 says but as a Marine ATC, ill have to tell you that F18s and other fighters come into the break at 400 to 500 KIAS on a regular basis. As far as the ATC goes in this movie, 7110.65R phraseology is what should be said. But also in that same pub it says "Easy to understand terms" so if you go a little outside the lines its no wrong or illegal. The primary purpose of the ATC system is to organize and expidite the flow of traffic and prevent a collison between a/c opperating in the system. Get your point across, niner....nine whatever is clever. clarity.

Marine Air Traffic Controller
Lcpl DeCesare

I visted Fremont Center on a few occasions with a an ATC buddy and it was exactly that: very dark and quiet, with very few people walking around and no one at all talking to each other (except over headsets, maybe.)

And this is a very busy ATC center that controls everything coming into the SFO Bay Area. And he was about 24 with absolutely none of the tics that are manifested in this film. Except for possibly, his muscle convertible.

It depends on the time, I guess. He would definitely be correct during rush hour, but when traffic density is low, you tend to stretch, maybe get up, and walk around the work station a while without, obviously, losing your situational awareness regarding the traffic on your screen.

my geuss is to check with EUROCONTROL. www.eurocontrol.int/