Merge

It’s official. Manila Control Tower and Manila Navaids facilities are now merged. We are not sure if this is temporary, to address the lack of personnel problem or a definite one.

Anyway, it’s kakaloka. Imagine the confirmation from the ANS Office just came last March 30. The other day, we had an emergency meeting to talk about the schedule, training, protocols, sharing of resources and other matters concerning the merge. It was just a rundown meeting, setting aside most of the details. The main objective of the meet was to devise a schedule for April. The FIC said we will take one stride at a time – gradual integration. Imagine, March 31 na saka pa lang gagawa ng schedule! Pero as usual, the ever adaptable ANSS, nagawa naman at napasa sa ANS Office before the end of the day. Kudos to Sir Alex Bayaras who made it with the help of Sir Vito and others. Take note, he accommodated all the special requests regarding the schedule. Like me, I have requested a day off on Sundays so I could attend my Cisco classes.

NavAids is short for navigational aids. They are the ANSS maintaining the equipments that guide airplanes in taking off and landing as well as finding the airport itself. In Manila Tower, our equipments are those used in the communications between air traffic controllers and pilots. You could just imagine, what a shock it is to us to maintain equipment that is not used for communications. But we all have to adapt. In the provinces, ANSS maintain comms and navaids simultaneously. And I think that’s where they (our bosses at the ANS Office) pattern this merge.

We have no choice but to educate each other on our equipment. Yesterday, we taught the NavAids personnel how to replace the Dictaphone tape recorder. Sir Vito also oriented them to the equipment room. Tito (Navaids) in return oriented Sir Vito and me about their RCMS – Remote Computer Monitoring System (tama ba?). He also plotted the positions of all navigational equipment in the runway.

This morning when I joined them in the daily status checking of navigational aids, I could already pinpoint which are the shelters for the localizers LLZ 06 & LLZ 24, glide slope/paths GP 06 & GP 24 and VOR/DME.

Naming them is easy; checking on their status is easy; but recognizing what modules are inside and what they are for - that’s what baffles me. In truth, I have no idea how ILS, DME, or VOR works. I still have to review the theories. And I need CATC training. Normally, each of these equipments would take 1.5 – 2 months of training in order for one to be familiar with it. And it takes years of experience maintaining it to become an expert. Hay... as of this time, we (comms personnel) cannot help them (navs personnel) when any navs equipment problem occur, and vice versa. Last night, I was the only comms on duty. And unluckily, the tower-approach hotline became faulty. I panicked for a second. It’s quite difficult to troubleshoot without someone to brainstorm with. When I checked our microwave equipment, the channel/carrier of the hotline, no alarms were observed. But luckily, and I thought I have run out of luck, upon my monitor at the recorder, approach controllers have contacted tower controllers. So there, I survived being alone.

It would take some time before we could really rely on each other. But I think both parties are really willing to learn.

Considering the whole picture, it is not really so bad being merged with navs. I’m kind of excited for the new things I have to learn and do. First, I have to learn how to drive; it is a necessity of being a navs personnel to be able to drive to and from the runway, where all of the equipments are located. Navs are willing to give driving lessons. I am thrilled by this. Also, marami na naman kami. We are now one of the biggest facilities in Manila. The more, the merrier dib a? But I am also not letting myself be enjoying this merge too much because I might forget that I am to leave this place. My plans haven’t changed. But for the mean time that I am stuck here, I am welcoming this change and this excitement in my life.