Richard Deakin Head of UK Air traffic: UFOs in UK 'around one a month'

d_brennen said:
That's where the U comes from in UFO
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That's not what it originally referred to though is it :

The term "UFO" was first suggested in 1952 by Capt. Edward J. Ruppelt, who headed Project Blue Book, then the USAF's official investigation of UFOs. Ruppelt felt that "flying saucer" did not reflect the diversity of the sightings. He suggested that UFO should be pronounced as a word you-foe.
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:p
 
Just an aside from the tread.

Scuzi, Creature, would you be kind enough to give me some information about your jobs? I am considering pursuing a career in Air traffic Control and would like some information from people who are involved within it. Would either of you be kind enough to send me an E-mail via trust as I have a few questions.
 
Fire_fly said:
Just an aside from the tread.

Scuzi, Creature, would you be kind enough to give me some information about your jobs? I am considering pursuing a career in Air traffic Control and would like some information from people who are involved within it. Would either of you be kind enough to send me an E-mail via trust as I have a few questions.
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Your first port of call should be here...

http://www.pprune.org/atc-issues-18/

Big thread near the top about NATS applications ;)

If you have specific questions feel free to ask.
 
Regarding the OP, what Deakin said was an off the cuff remark from somebody with almost no connection with day to day air traffic.

I've been at TC (where Scuzi also works) since 2000. That's a lot of time looking at radar screens. Unidentified traffic is present all the time, so they are UFOs in a literal sense however one can see that the radar return behaves in a manner that one would expect of a small aircraft/balloon and a confused or careless pilot.

In all my time I've had ONE instance of a radar return that was behaving in a spectacular way which was corroborated by a pilot sighting. At the time I didn't think much of what I'd seen on radar but when my mate told me of what the pilot said to him (the pilot report was not on my frequency) I was bit intrigued. However there are so many ways to explain it other than alien spacecraft it doesn't warrant much more consideration.

Scuzi, get me a coffee next time and I'll fill you in on it :)
 
Scuzi said:
Pretty much spot on. Aircraft with a Mode S transponder make it much easier for us since we can have the aircraft registration on the screen immediately, making identification a breeze. A bit of creative googling can find the aircraft's base airfield, where a phonecall can be made to find out more details if all else fails.

There was one occasion where we did this for a non-radio aircraft and managed to get one of the passenger's mobile number. He got a call he wasn't expecting :D
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Who do you work for?
 
Creature said:
Gloucester airport. Basic and ADI course, both being paid for by the company as well (cadet sceme) which is nice. This time next year i'll be out in the real world =/
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Congrats! Are you the same chap I gave a tour of West Drayton to? My memory sucks :p

Ben, I'll get you that coffee. Sounds interesting!
 
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