Safe skies A look at the Winnipeg
Area Control Centre Story by Tania Moffat
The Winnipeg Area Control Centre operations room. F
rom the moment your flight departs Winnipeg Richardson International Airport until it lands at its final destination, it is being tracked by a dedi- cated corps of air traffic controllers (ATC) working
at control facilities across the country. While many travellers are familiar with the control towers that stand tall over the country’s busiest airports, there is another type of facility that plays a key role in making sure aircraft keep moving safely and efficiently. Enter the Winnipeg Area Control Centre (ACC), one of
seven facilities in Canada responsible for large sections of airspace.
Unlike their fellow controllers located in control towers who have a direct view of runways and the airspace around the airport, these professionals do their job in an enclosed operations room – using powerful flight data processors, state-of-the art surveillance displays and communications systems to help keep aircraft moving on course and on time in a complex 24/7 operation. Te centre is run by experts that have completed an inten-
sive training program that includes classroom, simulator and on-the-job training and takes roughly two years to complete.
thehubwinnipeg.com Te operations room Te operations room is dimmed and surprisingly quiet as
approximately 20 controllers sit at consoles outfitted with several large screens that display aircraft targets, special operational information, weather information and a com- munications panel. Te shift manager sits at the front of the room with screens monitoring the entire operations room and overseeing the airspace Winnipeg’s centre is re- sponsible for – known as the Winnipeg Flight Information Region.
High altitude controllers line one wall, while low altitude
controllers line the wall opposite them. Terminal control- lers work on the far side of the room and the middle is filled with supervisors’ desks. It is a beehive of activity, but it is a quiet concentrated work environment. Each controller is responsible for a sector of airspace and has been trained for that specific geographical location as well as an altitude range (high, low or terminal). As pilots pass through a sector of airspace, they are required to check in with the controller responsible for that airspace. Tis can include passenger airlines, cargo carriers, private operators, emergency services like medevac, and others.
Spring 2015 • 73
Photo by Luther Caverly. All photos courtesy of NAV Canada.
Photo by Luther Caverly.
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