Real World ATC, World Flight style

[Markus Vitzethum]

Good Morning all,

every once in a while, an aviation story seems to go viral on the internet, apparently also this situation in Colombian airspace which developed after Bogota airport had to close down due to weather (apparently, according to some reports, Medellin also closed due to weather). Therefore, many flights diverted to Cali in a short period of time, apparently overloading the local controllers. The Youtube channel VASaviation has put this into a video, see

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh9c1UyIrdg

Of course, there is a lot to learn from this video (note that we do not see what the controller sees; we don't know what her radar capabilities are, nor do we know her other tasks, e.g. coordination with other units).
- predominantly Spanish ATC (ICAO language!), while a few planes (e.g. Lufthansa) have to speak English
- possible task saturation of ATC
- limited availability of airspace, possibly
- danger of loss of separation when AV24 and LH542 fly towards each other at FL240
- ...

But what I find interesting ... if you throw a World Flight situation (many planes arriving at a small airport, almost simultaneously, arriving from the same direction, not familiar with local procedures or the language) ... the results - at least in this situation - can be somewhat similar to what we experience at World Flight every year. :-) :-)

Markus