Club visit to Swanwick

Two club visits were arranged on Thursday 9th and 30th October, each group was limited to 10 people. We all made our way to Swanwick, some car sharing from the club and others from various points across the country.

We were met by Dave Durnford who was our host. The afternoon started off with a presentation from Dave on the role of NATS and Swanwick.

After the presentation the blinds rolled up and we found ourselves looking down on the air traffic controllers busy at work, it all looked very calm and relaxed.

We went down into the control room and were introduced to the people manning London Information, it was very interesting to see the environment in which they work and to be able to recall that picture when you speak to them. It was a good reminder of the service and all the information they can provide for you.

The visit finished off with the RAF manned Distress and Diversion room. Luckily there were no real emergencies taking place while we there but quite a few practice calls from the military. They really stressed that they are there to help and would much rather you gave them a call than get yourself into trouble or controlled airspace.