The Blandford Fly

So where we live is near the river Stour, and in the river is a Norwegian Black fly (Simulium posticatum) which was accidentally introduced into the river by the Marines who, after an exercise in Norway, put their boats in the river. Unbeknownst to them larvae of said fly were attached and when the boats were introduced to the waters so too were the larvae. Unfortuneately the local ecology is such that the flies' numbers boomed and have been a pest ever since.

What say you?

Well the reason for this short story is that this particular fly is a vicious bloodsucker, as are most blackflies, and humans (don't worry Brian you're a monkey) react very badly. This is what has happened to me. One bit me, the , on the leg last week and since it has been very sore and on wednesday balloned to 150% its normal size. Beccy was very worried and said I should go to A&E. However I went to the doctor and having seen it has confirmed that it's ok and will go away in a bit. Until then my leg is a bit sore and very itchy, the swelling has gone down now though. To finish I shall leave you with a picture, enjoy!

My First Summative Exercise

Well I suppose you're all wondering what I do and why I never blog much. Well let me tell you a little bit about the training and the exams!

Today was fairly a-typical as I had my first summative exercise. The college is full of rooms which would resemble, some to a startling degree, the "shop floor" of the Air Traffic Control Units, most notably London Terminal Control affectionately known as "TC". The rooms are dark and dingy, with low ceilings. They are filled with workstations the main part being a Display unit. On the more advanced courses the displays are 30" flat panel screens with ultra high resolution, as they are in the field, but on my course:- Radar Skills (or Basic Course) the equipment is pretty dated, although does vaguely ressemble something of use. They are not connected to live feeds, no radio is transmitted to the outside world and no one can call you, it is an ATC simulator which mimics reality. So in the middle you've got your screen. You plug in your headset to the left next to the comms panel where you can select on what frequency(s) you'd like to transmit/recieve. To the right you have the phones switches with buzz and flash when someone telephones you. Above the phones is an ADIS screen with pertinent information like weather and runway in use etc. immediately below the radar display is a large wooden board on which one arranges and organises the Flight Progress Strips which would be (if it wasn't a simulator) legal documents and kept for 90 days. Every command etc given to aircraft must be written on the strip. There's a map way above the screen and there are other units' frequencies dotted all around. It is quite a complicated task (which is why it takes 3 years to complete) and quite beyond the realms of explaining here, but there is a lot of legislation and so many different rules and scenarios and situations which all require a specific and precise treatment, all of which must become second nature to the trainees.

On the other side of the room behind a screen is your friend off the course plus an "inputter" who drives the aircraft around the display and calls you back on the radio when you call aircraft. So for example I'd say to an aircraft "Speedbird one two lima, vectoring for an I L S approach runway two six, information Echo, descend flight level one hundred, turn left one zero degress, report that heading" and the pretend a/c would follow to the letter my command.

Anyway I digress. I had a practical examination today when an instructor watches a simulator exercise and marks my controlling. I passed. I was marked under 10 skill areas; Communication, Separation, Vectoring, Information to Pilots, Task Management, Human Factors, Data Display Management, Co-ordination and Radar Handovers, and two more I can't remember. Well it doesn't matter I did wellish and (technical alert) had some pretty good fun with an inbound who I couldn't descend coz I had an outbound underneath in opposite direction so was at FL80 15 miles from touchdown and 5 N of finals. I took a quick decision to orbit the a/c right to take the height off and fly it through the approach path and back. An annoying plan, I admit, for the pax but it worked. Anyways the instructor wasn't happy with my un-orthodox approach. I asked what I should have done and she told me to plan earlier(?!). Fair enough. Bear in mind that this was on an exam. I had a big roundabout in the sky with 4 hot and high airliners conflicting which I maverickly vectored and expertly avoided disaster and I impressed myself once or twice actually. Still didn't impress the instructor. Well on with life and in case you're wondering what I do in the evening, tonight, amongst other things I memorised the following:

Co-Ordination:

The act of negotion between two or more parties vested with the authority to make executive decisions appropriate to the task discharged.

Co-Ordination is affected when the parties concerned, on the basis of known intelligence, agree a course of action.

Responsibility for obtaining the agreement and for ensuring the implementation of the agreed course of action is vested in one of the controllers involved.

etc

Some old friends

Tom and Stuart, two old Uni friends, came to visit yesterday. It was decided that we ought to go camping as the flat isn't enormous and it could be quite fun. Thankfully Tom had his Dad's car for the weekend, a large Volvo, which was plenty big enough for the trip.

Yesterday afternoon we chose a spot which looked interesting and picturesque near durdle door. The plan was to get to the campsite shown on the map just north of "the door". Pitch and head to the beach. After a while of trawling the internet and a quick phone call the campsite, it was established, was full. Not a single pitch left. Well, we're not picky. I mean a tap and a place to put the car and tent is all that's required really. Any ways it was getting late and we headed off in search of something, which we hoped would be somewhere near Swanage.

We found a place eventually after two or three non-starters just W of Swanage itself and very near Herston Halt on the Swanage heritage r/w.

The tent went up swiftly and we hot footed it the 2 or so miles to town to get a quick dip in the sea before the already dwindling light went completely. Crossing the fields we came upon what looked from afar as an exciting opportunity, A Garden Party. We ambled in and were greeted with looks of suspiscion as all 3 of us clearly not dressed for anything other than beach going. John (if I recall correctly) told us where to go... literally. So we resumed the original plan and now not far from the top of the agenda; some nosh and beer having seen the BBQ and the wine cooling in a brook. The plan, I must say, was executed without delay and with style, I might add. First the swim; cool but refreshing, next the nosh; Pizza from the box and Kronembourg from the can, Finally some Beer in a very fine establishment called the Red Lion. All aims successfully completed we bimbled back to camp the way we'd come, mainly to check up on the success of the Party. Quite expectedly the party was a roaring success and it seemed even less likely that we could infiltrate so we headed to bed.

A Busy Time

Well, it's been a busy period. I'm not going to make excuses because I think they'd be pretty lame. Needless to say I've been busy at work. Got to get on with my work now actually. I'll try and remember to blog tonight. BTW if anybody doesn't know my mobile number's changed. Send me an email if you want it, don't bother if you don't. I've been recently on the Simulators. It's not all day, it is intersperced with lessons about air traffic controlling and it is pretty awesome!

More about that later...