London City first in UK to get remote air traffic control

[bbc]

[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39960993[/url]

[Sableye]

seems like 120 miles is excessively far away though, like you couldn't whack it within 20-30 miles of the airport itself?

[zeromancer]

[QUOTE=Sableye;52254185]seems like 120 miles is excessively far away though, like you couldn't whack it within 20-30 miles of the airport itself?[/QUOTE]

I have no knowledge at all of air control, however my IT skills probably have something, if it's remote, it doesn't matter if its 1 miles or 200 miles, it's the exact level of control (probably a few ms latency).

[DogGunn]

[QUOTE=Sableye;52254185]seems like 120 miles is excessively far away though, like you couldn't whack it within 20-30 miles of the airport itself?[/QUOTE]

I would gather it's all part of a scheme to decentralise infrastructure.

[Sableye]

[QUOTE=zeromancer;52255835]I have no knowledge at all of air control, however my IT skills probably have something, if it's remote, it doesn't matter if its 1 miles or 200 miles, it's the exact level of control (probably a few ms latency).[/QUOTE]

digging deeper in the story, it sounds like they're locating it at the headquarters of the company that builds the system, and have multiple redundant fiber lines between the new control room and the airport itself. Additionally they'll be almost doubling the height of the control tower once they switch to digital. Its all proven to work just fine in other places, but I can't help but think it could still be a bad idea putting something as critical to an airport's operations, a hundred miles away from said airport. Maybe its just my general mistrust of these types of systems.

[God of Ashes]

I don't know how to feel about this. The aviation industry at its core is a very traditional industry but with the roll out of tech like ADS-B having a visual on the ground is almost not necessary. However, relying on is automation is not good for pilots.