That doesn't excuse the fact that the requirements for both the pilot and the
ground controller to read back specific clearances weren't adhered to.
Tacticomp Controller: This controller allows remote control of the T-1.5, and the use of the headset for voice communication to the pilot and
ground controller, as well as any other Tacticomp user with a headset.
This was a key factor in the fundamental shift of control from the cockpit to a
ground controller.
Had the
ground controller not delayed the show, "there was a possibility of a mid-air collision having taken place", she said.
Yesterday, Mrs Hull made a direct appeal to US president George Bush to help the coroner's inquiry by producing 11 censored lines of an interview between a
ground controller and one of the pilots.
Nobody, it seemed, wanted to chance encountering the irate
ground controller.
For the first time, a forward
ground controller, with the call sign of "Antidote," located on the ground near Baghdad, was invited "into" the cockpit of the aircraft via the Remotely Operated Video Enhanced Receiver (ROVER) system.
Early one morning I overheard this interchange between the
ground controller and one of the Chinese students.
The team, consisting of the six members of the shuttle crew, their trainer, and their
ground controller, had taken part in the last mission flown by the Atlantis shuttle.
The Oxford inquest into Mr Hull's death has heard that the
ground controller, codenamed Manilla Hotel, was "gobsmacked" that one of two A10 planes he was controlling had attacked a convoy of British armoured vehicles instead of the target he intended.
``MILA (the Kennedy spacecraft communication centre) is not reporting any RF (radio frequency) at this time,'' said Bill Foster, a
ground controller.
The local
ground controller replied, "Taxi to your line, but hold short of runway 32 for landing traffic." As he approached the intersection of runway 3-26, the pilot tried to clarify his taxi route, requesting, "Back taxi 26." This is the normal route to the line, and the controller simply responded, "Approved as requested." Ground did not reiterate the requirement to hold short of 32, nor did he clear the Harrier to cross.