GMC at UK regional airports

[Mooncrest]

Is there a Ground Movement Control position at Bristol, East Midlands, Liverpool and Newcastle Airports ? If so, is it manned around the clock or just during peak traffic periods ? The reason I ask is that Leeds Bradford handles comparable amounts of traffic to these airports at certain times of the day and the Aerodrome controller is responsible for the runway and taxiway movements. There is no GMC but Delivery is manned by the Aerodrome ATCA and provides IFR and VFR clearances, thereby reducing some of the RTF loading on the Aerodrome Controller.

Thankyou.

[alfaman]

The AIP should have all that detail for you: AD 2.18 normally includes the service designation & the hours of operation. HTH.

[Mooncrest]

Thankyou andaman, I've had a look. Quite a mix of ATC services offered by these four airfields. At least Delivery, some GMC and both in the case of Newcastle.

[Mooncrest]

Are there any particular criteria in the UK that have to be met before Delivery is mandatorily upgraded to GMC or Aerodrome Control is divided into Air and GMC ? I expect much of the decision-making is down to the unit management but CAA ATS Inspectors may make recommendations or even rulings.

[kcockayne]

I can’t speak for the units you mention but, at Jersey, we opened GMC when the traffic situation required it. That was largely on Weekends in the summer. That was despite it being promulgated as being open throughout the week. However, there was usually no need to open it on weekdays. Nowadays, with a lot less weekend traffic it would seem to me to be rarely necessary to open it at all. Unless someone knows differently.

[Mooncrest]

Thankyou kcockayne. It seems GMC is a rather hit and miss concept at the smaller regionals.

[mike current]

Thankyou kcockayne. It seems GMC is a rather hit and miss concept at the smaller regionals.
Edinburgh is the busiest UK airport per aircraft movements outside of the London area and Manchester and there's no delivery (although the UK AIP seems to think differently).

[Equivocal]

It seems GMC is a rather hit and miss concept at the smaller regionals.Splitting aerodrome control into separate functions is done to manage workload. At times when everything can be done, without becoming overloaded, by one person, then why split the functions up? Back in my day - 20+ years ago - there was a generally accepted rule of thumb that GMC was necessary when there were 100,000 or more movements each year. Of course, this took no account of aerodrome complexity or peaks in traffic, but when you looked at airports against that criterion it seemed a fair guide (but nothing more than that). A good many airports had frequencies assigned for GMC or delivery but rarely, if ever, opened these positions, however, having got an assignment, it was rare for any airport to give any assignment up. In those days there was less pressure on spectrum and I have no idea how things are now but since then I imagine there have been audits of how much use frequencies actually get as the closer channel spacings have been introduced and frequency assignments got shuffled about. The split of GMC and delivery is interesting - in my day there was a lot of talk about whether a controller was needed for the function, and within SRG the view was yes. But I believe that the introduction of CPDLC for issuing clearances (where the datalink equipment was usually operated by support staff) eventually resulted in a fait acompli.

[Gonzo]

Interesting. Where is the CPDLC (PDC) operated by support staff?

Pretty sure Leeds is the only unit with non-ATCO clearance delivery available.

[SWBKCB]

Is there a Ground Movement Control position at Bristol, East Midlands, Liverpool and Newcastle Airports ? If so, is it manned around the clock or just during peak traffic periods ? The reason I ask is that Leeds Bradford handles comparable amounts of traffic to these airports at certain times of the day and the Aerodrome controller is responsible for the runway and taxiway movements. There is no GMC but Delivery is manned by the Aerodrome ATCA and provides IFR and VFR clearances, thereby reducing some of the RTF loading on the Aerodrome Controller.

Of course, this took no account of aerodrome complexity or peaks in traffic

For example look at two of the airports quoted - NCL and LBA. At LBA the stands are relatively linear but at NCL a/c are moving in and out of cul-de-sac's so more potential for conflicting routings

[Equivocal]

Where is the CPDLC (PDC) operated by support staff?Ahh, I have made an assumption based on Mooncrest's post....and now I've come undone! Perhaps LBA is unique in this respect (as well as all the others :O).

Back in the days when I was involved there were discussions about support people preparing the clearance message for the controller to click send and arguments that it was little different to preparing a strip. The debate was made more difficult by the range of responsibilities that support staff had at different units. From my own experience, in NATS, ATSAs were very much limited to what might be called administrative tasks, while at non-NATS units ATSAs (the good ones, at least) would sometimes negotiate clearances on behalf of the controller at busy times - I would stress that the latter was done routinely in front of the trappers.

When CPDLC was first becoming operationally available, the unit that was the test case proposed using it for transmission of clearances and the safety case argued that this was not a safety-related function and so the CAA did not need to look at it any further. Since then, a lot has changed (and I'm not closely involved in such stuff these days) but clearance delivery seems very definitely to be considered an ATC function in legislation - in EU regs, at least, although I don't know if the UK still plays by those rules - so it would be interesting to know what LBA actually does.

[mike current]

For example look at two of the airports quoted - NCL and LBA. At LBA the stands are relatively linear but at NCL a/c are moving in and out of cul-de-sac's so more potential for conflicting routings

NCL just over 4000 aircraft movements a month. LBA slightly under. (CAA June stats).
You don't need GMC or delivery with such numbers, no matter what the complexity.

[Mooncrest]

Bristol doesn't have GMC but Delivery. I don't know if it's an ATCA or ATCO position. It is a NATS unit if that's significant. Manchester Delivery was also an ATCA position until some time earlier this century, then its remit expanded to include engine start but not pushback or taxi so became an ATCO position. It still is but is now strictly clearances only - push and start is now GMC or TWR when it's quiet.

I don't know about traffic figures but LBA adopted the Delivery idea about ten years ago when the Tower frequency was becoming saturated. With the growth of Jet2 and the increased Ryanair and GA traffic I would venture that Delivery is here to stay. There is no parallel taxiway and only two fairly short taxiways on the terminal side other than on the apron. This has been so for decades so unless there are taxiway upgrades Delivery may not become GMC.

[terrain safe]

Delivery is misnamed at the busier airports. It is actually GMP or Ground Movement Planner, and will flow the traffic to GMC to try and make the GMC position easier. They will try and avoid giving conflictions for pushbacks against other traffic as well as not starting too many aircraft up and blocking the holding points as well as trying to give a mix of routes to the Air Controller. As well as managing slots and EOBTs, and when flow regulations are imposed dealing with those as well plus all the weather-induced delays (snow/thunderstorms, etc). Sometimes it can be hell and other times it can be really difficult but rewarding. Definitely an ATCO position.

[Gonzo]

Quite.

We had a few discussions with the regulator a year or two ago about a non-ATCO Clearance Delivery, but all the caveats and limitations on their responsibilities and abilities would have meant we'd have to have an ATCO current and ready to plug in almost at a moment's notice, negating any benfit.

[Mooncrest]

Something the LBA Delivery gang can't do is pass any non-standard clearance. SIDs were introduced here in 1995 when the airfield gained H24 and they now account for the bulk of IFR clearances passed. But, if an aircraft requires RW14 for departure (performance) and the runway in use is 32, the RW14 SID then has to be passed by TWR. Delivery can't do it. Maybe it's something to do with potential increased coordination required between TWR and Radar or Scottish because of a 'conflicting' departure.

[ZOOKER]

EGCC has always had a GMC position since 1979, manned on M & A shifts. At night, ADC was combined on the air frequency, but during the late 1980s-late 90s, GMC was open if required on nights. When Delivery was brought in, late 1980s, it was manned by an ATCO, and subsequently manned by ATSAs, with the GMC ATCO in the next seat. It reverted to an ATCO position round about the time Runway 2 came in. I believe it is sometimes manned by GMC, working both frequencies, during quiet periods?

[Mooncrest]

Zooker, that sounds about right.