Visit to the Seattle TRACON

Yesterday, son Michael and I attended a seminar hosted by the Seattle Terminal Radar Approach Control facility (TRACON, or just "Seattle Approach"). It was a very useful and informative way to spend a Saturday morning.



Karen and Aaron from the TRACON and Gary from Seattle Center provided some valuable information on airspace, procedures, and how the controllers in each facility manage traffic. There was plenty of time for interaction and a lot of good questions from the audience.

They also had controllers from the Seattle (KSEA), Boeing Field (KBFI), and Paine (KPAE) towers to talk about surface operations, transitions, and VFR departure procedures.

The main impression I had from all of these folks is a dedication to customer service and safety. They encourage pilots to ask questions, tour their facilities, and provide feedback on service. Meeting with controllers face-to-face takes away the mystery and, for some pilots, apprehension about that voice we hear on frequency.

After the presentation part of the session, we were offered the opportunity to tour the control room. Michael and I were able to sit with a departure controller as he worked traffic. He was very generous with his time and attention, explaining what was going on and showing us some of the very cool tools he has at his disposal.

Michael thinks he might want to be an Air Traffic Controller...which would be just fine with me. Just as long as he's not working my airspace someday and gives me a 40 mile vector just to mess with me...

A little pattern work

I awoke to clear skies and calm winds this morning, looking forward to a planned cross-country flight to Paine Field. But by the time I had breakfast and was ready to drive to the airport, we had clouds at about 9000 feet and it was getting a little windy.

I called Lockheed to get a weather briefing and learned that the winds at Olympia and north were not too bad...generally around 10 knots out of the north at the surface, and easterly at around 25 at 3500 feet. Potential for turbulence, yes, but definitely flyable.

So I finished the pre-flight and decided on my usual approach when I'm unsure about winds: I dip my toe in the water to test it, by doing a couple of pattern circuits at the home patch. If I like what I'm experiencing, I depart the pattern on course; if I don't, I land.

My takeoff clearance included a wind report of 360 at 10 knots...pretty much right down runway 35. With the cold temps (low 40s) and headwind, 75898 was off in a hurry, and I was at pattern altitude just beyond the departure end of the runway. It was a little turbulent in the pattern, but not too bad. At pattern altitude, the winds were splitting the difference between the surface observation and the 3500' report from flight service...I would guess they were about 040 at 20. I had to keep a noticeable crab to avoid getting blown over the runway, in right traffic. Then the real fun began on the base leg (the leg perpendicular to the runway prior to landing). I was easily crabbed 30 degrees, which made the turn to final really easy! During the round-out and flare, there was a good bit of bouncing around and change of direction, but all of my 4 landings were greasers. It's nice touching down at a speed just a bit faster than I drive on city surface streets (the wind on my last landing was 350 at 15, giving me a groundspeed around 35 knots).

From the pattern, there was overcast as far north as I could see, with what looked like scattered showers. It was getting more and more turbulent, so I decided to scrub the mission to Paine. I'm glad I stopped...as I write this two hours later, the winds are 15 gusting to 23. Definitely beyond my comfort zone.

But the weather is getting better, slowly but surely, and more flying days are just around the corner!