Published: June 28, 2016
Today was a bit more exciting for a classroom day, compared to yesterday. We started off the day with the usual phraseology around the room exercises (which are getting to a point where people are memorizing, not learning, as I would discover later in the day), followed by a lesson on FIDO, which stands for Flight Data Input Output. FIDO is basically a computer system that keeps track of flight plans for IFR (instrument flight rule) flights. This is essentially a fancy system that prints out pieces of paper (Flight Progress Strips) with information about the flight on it, things such as altitude, callsign, equipment type, etc on them, that we then use to help keep track of airplanes while we are “controlling” them.
After we went over the book lesson on FIDO, we did a part-tasking exercise on the computer regarding flight plans and amending them, which I actually found kinda fun. We had to practice changing callsigns, equipment types, filed altitudes, etc. I finished mine in around 10-15 minutes and waited another 25 for the stragglers of the class to finish. It was definitely fun to do something that was practical to break up the book work.
Next we talked about ATIS (Automatic Terminal Information Service) which is a prerecorded broadcast of non-control information, typically pilots listen to this before coming into or departing an airport so they know what runways are in use, any closures, special weather conditions, etc. After lunch, we got to do more part tasking where we recorded ATIS’s on the computer so we could hear what we sounded like and practice our speech rate and volume. I found this to be pretty easy as well, sadly we are never graded on it.
After we finished this, we discussed runway crossing procedures and coordination within the tower cab for the last few hours. We broke up into two groups and went around the groups taking turns playing ground/local/vehicle. This was fun. I pretty much nailed my run while others struggled and clearly have some practicing to do.
Finally, we also did some around the room phraseology again to end the day, but our instructor finally mixed it up and gave everyone a different airplane/callsign on the spot, which you then had to read back instructions to immediately – around half the class made some sort of mistake on this, so it was reassuring to nail this with 100%, too bad this isn’t on the test tomorrow. Oh well, it’ll definitely be nice going into lab with the confidence of having this under my belt.
Which brings up my final point – I have a block test tomorrow, so now more internets for me tonight! It’s on most of the stuff we covered in class today and the stuff from yesterday.
PS- I came home to my hotel room having the bed made, but no new towels and all my dirty ones gone. Today is my day for housekeeping. I called the front desk, but they said they’d be done sometime tonight, so I guess until then, I can’t shower, eat, or wash my hands.