Sydney Tower

Air Traffic Controller Paul Hunter was kind enough to give me a tour of Sydney Tower. Frank Paterson has also has an interesting history of the 5 Towers of Sydney Airport.

Sydney Tower is a spectacular view as you rise from the helipads at Sydney Airport.
It's also reassuring when you are headed out via Georges River 1 because you have to guess a track towards the tower when it's still hidden behind the trees. (Looks like I aimed for the right tree this time...)
(Click on photos to enlarge.)

What a beautiful building.
Let's go up!

First stop: the deck, where we can get some views of the field.
(Wow, it's a little windy!)

Hey, who's that on the mound?

The cab is well described on the Sydney Airport Enthusiast site, so read that and come back when you're ready!

You usually listen to ATIS first, so let's start there. Here's the ATIS editing screen which feeds into the computer voice. I'm told there's half a dozen voices to choose from!

After you've listened to ATIS, it's on to Clearance Delivery (aka Tower Coordinator) who gets strips ready, issues clearances and sends strips flying along tracks built into the desks.

After you've got your clearance, change to Ground (aka SMC East or West, depending on where you are) for pushback and taxi requests.

The surface movement radar gives an excellent picture of what's going on.
Arrivals are already tagged with their callsigns.
(Departures could be tagged, but it requires so many mouse-clicks that it's not worthwhile.)

Next, you call Sydney Tower (aka ADC East or West) who spends most of their time trying to judge separations between aircraft.
"If I can get this one off the runway quick enough, I'll be able to get that one off before this one comes in..."
(It's like three-dimensional Tetris.)

The tower controller uses strips which arrive along little tracks from SMC East or West.

The radar is the same system as in the TCU but has slightly different monitors.

The met display includes wind information for key points around the airport.

Everyone's done their job, and there's another great landing!

More helicopter photos

Please leave us a Hooremoan:

Date	Name	Hooremoan
10 Dec	Frank	I feel like I was there!
10 Dec	Dave	Great shots! And great webpage!
10 Dec	Pugsley	WOW iam just plane jealous! Great pixs...
10 Dec	Ross	Excellent Smithers!
10 Dec	Mj	And i thought i was the only one fanatical 'bout planes!!!!
10 Dec	Tracy	<SIGH>!
10 Dec	Peter	Great photos from a rare vantage point !
11 Dec	smitty	awesome stuff i work in the railways version of atc but this is amazing
11 Dec	Russell	Thanks! Can I come and have a look at the railways version?
11 Dec	Ainge	Great pics. Can you get me in as well for a day?!!!!!
11 Dec	Darryl	What more can I say, Brilliant!!!!!
30 Dec	Dave	Fantastic pics. That's some pretty fancy flying to get that little Robbie into the tower cab!!!
1 Jan	Bob	Thanks for the memories; I recognise Paul Hunter there - worked there for 5 years and retired from ATC 15 months ago
2 Jan	Alan	Worked in the tower for three years as an "adso" ( Air Data System Officer ) great place to work
7 Jan	James	Its abit more modern than the trower I work in!
18 Jun	GJJ	Blew me away with the views Excellent well done
27 Jul	Kelly	What lucky people we are!
19 Jul	CH	I would love a view like this.
25 Jan	Fox	bravo! bravo! bis.....
3 Feb	Ebos - from Canada	from 1/2 way around the world...great website!
24 Feb	MyData UK	Excellent stuff. Great for a PPL to get a view of the other side.
11 May	Chris F	Work on an Air Base but these are very different - just great
25 May	Dorothy	Awesome
16 Jun	Thanh	Great stuff, I love these!
24 Jan	Chris Nowwww	Love The Site It Is The Best I Have Seen Good Job
15 Feb	BedsaL	nice building,love it.so different with tower in my country,whoops?
12 Nov	Arjun	That is really, awesome, i wish i could go there. Nice pics
30 Oct	Mike	Thanks for the pics+information! Gives a fantastic insight into how ATC works!

20 Mar