Airmen control northern Iraq flights

  • Published
  • By Senior Master Sgt. Gene LaDoucer
  • 506th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs
KIRKUK AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) --  With equipment older than many of its users, air traffic control services here present some unique challenges for the 32 people keeping Air Force and Army aircraft operating safely.

Adapting to the challenges, airmen working in the 506th Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron are responsible for Kirkuk’s airspace and all the airspace of northern Iraq, officials said.

Staff Sgt. Ramon McQueen, a watch supervisor in the control tower, and 10 other tower controllers monitor fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters flying within a five-mile radius of the base and up to 4,000 feet above sea level. The rundown facility that once served the same purpose for the Iraqi air force has unreliable electrical power and telephone communications, he said.

“Our equipment is old, but it does the job,” said McQueen, explaining controllers now deal with analog switches, dials and radio handsets instead of state-of-the-art touch screens and headsets. The controllers must also do without a radar screen, which is found in most modern towers.

“It takes a little time to become familiar with the equipment, but it all serves the same purpose so learning is quick,” he said.

While the equipment is old, it is the flares released by incoming and outgoing aircraft to defend against surface-to-air threats that McQueen said reminds him he is operating in a hostile area.

“That’s something I don’t see back in the states,” said McQueen who is deployed from Barksdale Air Force Base, La.

Having Army helicopters make up the majority of air traffic is also a new experience for many of the controllers, such as Senior Airman Kaishla Holloway.

“We don’t see many helicopters at Dyess (AFB, Texas),” she said. “Here about 60-percent of our operations are helicopters.”

In a small, dark, self-contained deployable building located between the base’s two active runways, 21 controllers are responsible for a much larger airspace. Called “center radar approach control,” the section takes on the dual mission of serving as a traditional radar approach control facility and operating as a center.

As radar-approach controllers, Staff Sgt. Eugenia Lopez and the other airmen monitor and direct air traffic within a 55-mile radius up to 15,000 feet using a number of radar screens. But they also control aircraft throughout all of northern Iraq. Two other centers, one at Tallil AB and the other in Baghdad, control the airspace in south and central Iraq, respectively.

“We probably average about 60 operations a day, which is not too busy, but a lot of coordination goes into each aircraft prior to it entering our or someone else's airspace and that is the challenging part,” said Lopez, who is deployed from Incirlik AB, Turkey. “The equipment here is old and not always reliable, (and) coordinating with Turkey can be challenging due to the language barrier. Regardless, we get the job done.”