With equipment older
than many of its users, air traffic control services here present
some unique challenges for the 32 people keeping Air Force and Army
aircraft operating safely.
Adapting to the challenges, airmen working in the 506th
Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron are responsible for
Kirkuk’s airspace and all the airspace of northern Iraq,
officials said.
Staff Sgt. Ramon McQueen, a watch supervisor in the control
tower, and 10 other tower controllers monitor fixed-wing aircraft
and helicopters flying within a five-mile radius of the base and up
to 4,000 feet above sea level. The rundown facility that once
served the same purpose for the Iraqi air force has unreliable
electrical power and telephone communications, he said.
“Our equipment is old, but it does the job,” said
McQueen, explaining controllers now deal with analog switches,
dials and radio handsets instead of state-of-the-art touch screens
and headsets. The controllers must also do without a radar screen,
which is found in most modern towers.
“It takes a little time to become familiar with the
equipment, but it all serves the same purpose so learning is
quick,” he said.
While the equipment is old, it is the flares released by
incoming and outgoing aircraft to defend against surface-to-air
threats that McQueen said reminds him he is operating in a hostile
area.
“That’s something I don’t see back in the
states,” said McQueen who is deployed from Barksdale Air
Force Base, La.
Having Army helicopters make up the majority of air traffic is
also a new experience for many of the controllers, such as Senior
Airman Kaishla Holloway.
“We don’t see many helicopters at Dyess (AFB,
Texas),” she said. “Here about 60-percent of our
operations are helicopters.”
In a small, dark, self-contained deployable building located
between the base’s two active runways, 21 controllers are
responsible for a much larger airspace. Called “center radar
approach control,” the section takes on the dual mission of
serving as a traditional radar approach control facility and
operating as a center.
As radar-approach controllers, Staff Sgt. Eugenia Lopez and the
other airmen monitor and direct air traffic within a 55-mile radius
up to 15,000 feet using a number of radar screens. But they also
control aircraft throughout all of northern Iraq. Two other
centers, one at Tallil AB and the other in Baghdad, control the
airspace in south and central Iraq, respectively.
“We probably average about 60 operations a day, which is
not too busy, but a lot of coordination goes into each aircraft
prior to it entering our or someone else's airspace and that is the
challenging part,” said Lopez, who is deployed from Incirlik
AB, Turkey.
“The equipment here is old and not always reliable, (and)
coordinating with Turkey can be challenging due to the language
barrier. Regardless, we get the job done.” [ANN Thanks Senior
Master Sgt. Gene LaDoucer, 506th Air Expeditionary Group Public
Affairs]