Over the last few months I have had the chance to sit down with different ARTCCs and analyze some of their sweatbox scenarios. This experience was not only an eye opener but also fun and exciting! Of course we alll want to work tons and tons of traffic as that IS the typical air traffic ego in us...but it's important to note, that volume is not as important as you think. With various skill set across the board, it's essential that ARTCCs are providing quality and precise TRACON training, rather than overload a brand new student with 50 airplanes. If there is one thing I learned with ATC, it's how much you can learn with two airplanes. Whether it's angles, rate of descent, vectoring for wind correction, speed control, sequencing or wake turbulence separation, the amount of information that can be discussed surrounding two airplanes can surprisingly be overwhelming.
For those that are just starting off, your initial goal should be simple fundamentals and technique such as proper scanning, and improving upon your situational awareness! A sweatbox is a controlled environment and it truly should be utilized for students to see how "it" SHOULD look, so when things get ugly on the network, you have an idea of how to turn chaos into an organized flow of traffic. Students...this is your chance to mess up! If you don't tell yourself this now, you never will...Fail, and fail hard! Learn from your mistakes and own them; I promise it will make you better!
In going over the various scenarios at multiple ARTCCs, I found some sessions were too busy and of course unrealistic. Sweatboxes should flow and give the student a chance to breathe and make calculated decisions. Yes, students with more time under their belt may need a more advanced sweatbox, but there is also nothing wrong with having even a center certified C1, get back on the sweatbox for an easy 8 plane session, to fine tune some basic skills. One of the beautiful things about a slow session is that, the instructor/mentor can have discussion with the student about what tasks need to be completed while also answering any questions that may arise.
Additionally, one of the most important factors that myself and some ARTCCs sat down and realized was that, most scenarios primarily shed spotlight on a major airport. We took a step back and spoke about the fact that, some for example, such as A80 (Atlanta) have simultaneous triple ILS approaches which is verryyyyy advanced for an S3 just starting out. Why not consider starting with a few basic TRACON scenarios at an airport such as Birmingham (BHM) and practice simple ILS and/or Visual approaches. In playing around, we input 3 airplanes on each downwind, and 1 each on both opposite base legs 40 miles from the field. Students practiced speed control, merging, applied vertical and lateral separation and most of all, an understanding of compression on the localizer. This session took 25 minutes to create, and 20 minutes to simulate. In all, both staff and student learned something from the session with nothing short of positive feedback.
I ask, if there are any ARTCCs overhauling their training programs, please consider evaluating your files. Based on the various skill set of trainees, it is only fair to provide quality training based on one's knowledge and exposure. As most know, the radar environment can be intimidating for first timers, so please properly introduce each student to the dark room with a realistic amount of aircraft for a first, second or even third session. Stick with the fundamentals. The ability to work volume of airplanes will come with time as well as working speed!
Best of luck to all! If anyone want's to sit down and go over some of your sweatboxes I would love to check them out...and also work a little traffic too haha.
dk@derekvento.com
