Catag94 said:
Quote:
1) ATC calls out approaching traffic for PAT25, without telling them where to look for it (ie at your 11 o'clock), instead telling them a location relative to a specific ground feature (South of Woodrow Bridge), which leaves the possibility of seeing a more distant plane as the approaching traffic ATC is talking about.
I agree, but Heli pilots who commonly fly this route are well aware of the location of the bridge mentioned and where a CRJ inbound from that bridge setting up for a landing on 33 should be I think. When ATC first contact PAT25 and tells them the location, He knows that at that moment the CRJ is at roughly 3 O'clock to the PAT25, but when its gonna count, it will be at their 11' O'clock. This is due to PAT25 being on route 1 at first and ATC knowing they are going to transition to route 4 (change headings).
I pretty well see it ultimately the way you do though on other pints especially.
I have read that these pilots had flown the route before, but not how often or how recently. Without knowing their history, we don't really know what they did or didn't know. But good practice by ATC would be to assume any pilots they talk to don't know the local landmarks well enough to spot them at night, and give them relative directions instead.
I agree with you though regarding the timing of the callouts. To me, that makes the tower staffing part of the issue. It is pretty apparent the controller talking is working very fast to go from plane to plane and doesn't have the time to stop and watch to make sure the planes/helos are doing what they were instructed. Having one controller dealing with the helos would have allowed them to let the helo know about the reroute and to watch for traffic to his left.
In the end though, none of it would have mattered if the helo had been below 200 like they were supposed to be. Having one controller watching the helos may have allowed them to correct that too with a warning to the pilot.
