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...