AAT

#1. Air traffic control

#2. Radar

#3. Radar scan map

#4. PSR Transmitter

#5. The view from radar site up on hill

#6. ATT office

#7. The fire fighters--CO2 gas

#8. The radar equipment room

#9. our chief ME from Italy--Marco

Learning never ends...

So last week, i was asked to stay around DCA office to get to know ITs function and organisation better. DCA has 2 major division which is the administration and finance department and the ATCC (Air Traffic Control Central). Each of these divisions has its sub units with different specific functions. For example, ATCC can be divide into units such as: control tower (aerodrome and surface movement), aeronautical information service, AAT (advance air traffic system), flight information service, training, search and rescue, area control and approach.

This week, i was assigned to AAT and i'll be there for another 2.5 months. So basically, we do radar & systems maintenance (sounded like a guy's job and yes, all 5 engineers in AAT are guys but yet the supervisor and manager are both female, lol). Everything related to the system of the radar are in our job scope and that includes fixing printer and telephone lines, radar site and tower cleaning (outsiders are strictly prohibited, the systems are expensive and it has to be function all the time, 24-7, so we can't bare the consequences of any shut down or disrupt of system to happen, which at worst, crashes between airplanes), backup data for radar detection and voice file between controller and pilot. But still, our main job is to keep the radar and related systems functioning all the time. So the engineers working here take shifts (sometimes they called themselves kuli or higher class technician which i find it quite true, what to do, Malaysia has limited resources and efficient manpower, all the best candidates had flee from the country).

New facts: #1. Radar detection is use not only for planes but the data obtained also includes the density of clouds, which will later be used for weather forecast and it helps the controller to keep the pilot update with the current weather condition. #2. There's 2 radar used in a system, which is PSR (Primary Surveillance Radar-for planes within 60 mile nautical and without transponder) and SSR (Secondary Surveillance Radar-for detection of planes with transponder and of range 200 mile nautical). #3. The radar system used in civil aviation is from Italy. I always thought Italy is an artistic place with painters and poets but apparently they produces high technology radar systems too. lol. and the software engineer based in AAT is hot, seriously.

Work is still fun so far. Learning new things keep me excited. I know, i sounded exactly like a nerd now. xp Hopefully i will make more use of myself in coming weeks. The 1st week so far has only been the honeymoon period. I heard we'll be real busy at the end of the month. till then =)

A new Phase of Life =)

Blogging from work, my 1st job ever, not exactly a proper job yet. I'm serving 3 months of industrial training at DCA (Department of Civil Aviation). So far so COOL. And here is why:

1) There is a bunch of funny and friendly people work here who call themselves a family

2) every wed and fri lunch breaks are karaoke session as well. So they actually have a karaoke room here and they sing well, like really =D

3) 3.30pm is "Minum" time, music will be on and you can smell coffee every corner in the office, once we even got someone "belanja" us roti canai ^^

4) People here never silent their phone which i find it amusing, in a good way. But of course i still keep my phone silent all the time.

5) Learning interesting facts about civil aviation (from Civil Aviation Acts 1969 and Rules and Regulations of civil aviation 1996). Do you know that we charged all airplanes that flew above our territory and military planes are not allow in commercial routes. How we know then? We have a radar that senses and a system that records down every detail of the planes flew by: weight, model, airways, operator...).

Overall, i like work, being productive (which i'm not yet doing anything such), but waking up 6 in the morning is definitely no fun. I'll get used to it over time, hopefully. Have a great day ahead peeps! =D