FAA Command Center
On Thursday, April 1 Albert was invited to tour the Air Traffic Control System Command Center ran by the FAA through his school. He had a hard time getting there since he was told it was in Leesburg when it was really in Herndon. After visiting with the guards at the National Air Traffic Control Association (NATCA), Washington Center in Leesburg he found out he was at the wrong building. The guard gave him the cross streets, but they were misspelled and his classmates he was talking to on the phone insisted that the Command Center was in Leesburg.
He called me and I was able to look it up on-line and we figured out the right address. He drove about thirty minutes and then realized that he had left his driver's license with the guard in Leesburg. He decided not to go back since he was already late.
When he finally got to the area he was supposed to be in, he went to the wrong building since no one mentioned that the Command Center is in the HP Building and there were no signs. The receptionist at the wrong building was able to tell him where to go.
Most of the tour was question & answer and briefings on what goes on there and they had a quick tour of the facilities. The Command Center manages the flow of air traffic within the continental US, unlike the NATCA which controls air traffic in their regions, and the towers at airports which only control air traffic at the airport. They also have a military part of their organization which deals with moving military aircraft and dealing with emergencies, like Haiti.
Albert left his camera in the car so these pictures he took with his phone will have to suffice. You can see a better picture of the facilities here.
He called me and I was able to look it up on-line and we figured out the right address. He drove about thirty minutes and then realized that he had left his driver's license with the guard in Leesburg. He decided not to go back since he was already late.
When he finally got to the area he was supposed to be in, he went to the wrong building since no one mentioned that the Command Center is in the HP Building and there were no signs. The receptionist at the wrong building was able to tell him where to go.
Most of the tour was question & answer and briefings on what goes on there and they had a quick tour of the facilities. The Command Center manages the flow of air traffic within the continental US, unlike the NATCA which controls air traffic in their regions, and the towers at airports which only control air traffic at the airport. They also have a military part of their organization which deals with moving military aircraft and dealing with emergencies, like Haiti.
Albert left his camera in the car so these pictures he took with his phone will have to suffice. You can see a better picture of the facilities here.
Albert spoke to his tour guide at the Command Center about getting a tour at the NATCA since he had to go back there to fetch his ID. The tour guide gave him a point of contact and now Albert's teacher wants him to set up a tour for the class since it was too late to tour that building by the time they finally finished at the Command Center.
We're learning that air traffic control is much more complicated than just helping planes land and take off. There are people not even close to airports helping all sorts of planes get to their final destinations all over the US. Who knew?
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