Saturday February the 10th was our Chapter's field trip to the Potomac Consolidated TRACON. I was able to arrange a tour for our Chapter members to watch a presentation about the history and operation of the TRACON that serves the area we as Pilots operate in. It was a very good opportunity to find out what drives the controllers crazy that we as Pilots do as well as telling the controllers what drives us crazy that they do to us.
It was a great day of learning about our Nation's air traffic control system. After the presentation we split into small groups and were guided to the actual room where the controllers were working active traffic (we were not allowed to take pictures in this room but took pictures of the controller workstation in a training room). Our hosts explained the different screens and tools controllers have at their disposal to keep traffic flowing even in adverse weather conditions.
This was a very enjoyable trip, and everyone got some new knowledge and appreciation for the controllers on the other end of the microphone.
- Juergen
