I know in come cases (many US airports come to mind) its up to the airline which flight lands at each gate because airlines own/lease out particular gates. In these circumstances, how does the air traffic controller get the gate information to pass on to the arriving aircraft?
At European airports what happens? who decides which stand to assign to aircraft? ATC? If not then who passes on the information to ATC?
Thanks for the info.
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RE: Who Assigns Gates To Aircraft?
| Quoting AmricanShamrok (Thread starter): how does the air traffic controller get the gate information to pass on to the arriving aircraft? |
Usually it is in the flight paperwork, and when you land ATC will ask you what gate.
RE: Who Assigns Gates To Aircraft?
I know CO at EWR has a gate planner that sets all that up throughout the day. I don't remember the name of the program, but it allows the gate planner to assign the gate, put in how long that plane will be on the gate and even warns him/her if the will have any conflicts like wing over wing situations. Typically the crew would call CO Ops in-range and ask for their gate assignment.
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- BCEaglesCO757
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RE: Who Assigns Gates To Aircraft?
| Quoting Shwartz (Reply 2): I know CO at EWR has a gate planner that sets all that up throughout the day. I don't remember the name of the program, but it allows the gate planner to assign the gate, put in how long that plane will be on the gate and even warns him/her if the will have any conflicts like wing over wing situations. Typically the crew would call CO Ops in-range and ask for their gate assignment. |
Same thing down here @ IAH.
RE: Who Assigns Gates To Aircraft?
Here at PHL WN normally had an ops sup in the morning make the gate assignments. If there was any conflicts throughout the span of the day an ops supervisor would be called by the ops agent in the booth to situate any gate changes.
RE: Who Assigns Gates To Aircraft?
| Quoting Shwartz (Reply 2): I know CO at EWR has a gate planner that sets all that up throughout the day. I don't remember the name of the program, but it allows the gate planner to assign the gate, put in how long that plane will be on the gate and even warns him/her if the will have any conflicts like wing over wing situations. Typically the crew would call CO Ops in-range and ask for their gate assignment. |
Same here in YYZ with AC. We'll call the pilots in range (via ground-to-air radio) and inform them of their gate assignments.
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- transaeroyyz
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RE: Who Assigns Gates To Aircraft?
I've noticed in Moscow (DME) that they use a 'follow me' car for the plane to follow to the gate, makes it easier for the crew, I guess ? But is the crew informed of the gate no. or just follow the car?
RE: Who Assigns Gates To Aircraft?
| Quoting transaeroyyz (Reply 6): |
Most places that I've been where they use a follow me vehicle it's because the crew may be unfamiliar with the airfield and asked for assistance. That may not be the case everywhere though.
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- rfields5421
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RE: Who Assigns Gates To Aircraft?
| Quoting AmricanShamrok (Thread starter): In these circumstances, how does the air traffic controller get the gate information to pass on to the arriving aircraft? |
I've heard on the radio at DFW several times where the Tower ATC asks the aircraft which terminal/ gate the aircraft will be using.
There is a line on the entrance to the ramp area from the taxiway at many airports. Once across that line - the movement of the aircraft is the airline responsibility, not the ATC responsibility.
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- InnocuousFox
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RE: Who Assigns Gates To Aircraft?
| Quoting transaeroyyz (Reply 6): I've noticed in Moscow (DME) that they use a 'follow me' car for the plane to follow to the gate, makes it easier for the crew, I guess ? |
That really seems like overkill.
RE: Who Assigns Gates To Aircraft?
| Quoting MattRB (Reply 5): Same here in YYZ with AC. We'll call the pilots in range (via ground-to-air radio) and inform them of their gate assignments. |
Interesting... in YYC with QK, they would just pick up the gate I would assign via ACARS. There were cases where their ACARS was U/S or printer out of paper, etc when they would radio in, but it didn't happen very often!
I do recall the AC gate planner was calling AC aircraft after landing to advise them of the gate....
RE: Who Assigns Gates To Aircraft?
| Quoting AmricanShamrok (Thread starter): At European airports what happens? who decides which stand to assign to aircraft? |
There's more variation in Europe than in the US, but usually airport management will assign a stand and inform the handler (or company ops) and ground control. Again usually, the aircraft gets their gate assignment when contacting the handler in range. On short flights, stand assignment will be in the paperwork.
| Quoting transaeroyyz (Reply 6): they use a 'follow me' car for the plane to follow to the gate, makes it easier for the crew |
Last time I visited the UPS CGN hub, which admittedly was many years ago, ground control would route aircraft to a specific taxiway where they were met by a "follow me" to lead them to their stand. Basically it was up to UPS to assign a specific stand, but I don't know why radio wasn't used.
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- Maverick623
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RE: Who Assigns Gates To Aircraft?
| Quoting AmricanShamrok (Thread starter): how does the air traffic controller get the gate information to pass on to the arriving aircraft? |
It's usually the other way around: the aircraft will call the airline ops controller for in-range, and they'll get their gate assignment. Once on the ground, they'll tell the tower which gate (or taxiway) they need to enter. Once on the ramp, ATC no longer has control over the airplane.
RE: Who Assigns Gates To Aircraft?
And how about gate assignments in LHR Terminal 5? 
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- ctempleton3
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RE: Who Assigns Gates To Aircraft?
| Quoting rfields5421 (Reply 8): I've heard on the radio at DFW several times where the Tower ATC asks the aircraft which terminal/ gate the aircraft will be using. |
I think the reason they ask the pilots what gate at DFW is to see if they have to hand them off to the ground controller on the other side of the airport.
RE: Who Assigns Gates To Aircraft?
| Quoting ctempleton3 (Reply 14): Quoting rfields5421 (Reply 8): I've heard on the radio at DFW several times where the Tower ATC asks the aircraft which terminal/ gate the aircraft will be using. I think the reason they ask the pilots what gate at DFW is to see if they have to hand them off to the ground controller on the other side of the airport. |
..and at some airports, the reason ATC ask (or why the pilots tell ATC), is that it may decide the runway assignment, especially at airports using parallel runways where one gate/concourse may be much closer to one runway than another.
Jimbo
RE: Who Assigns Gates To Aircraft?
A little off topic question but still pertaining to gates, I've seen on some larger gate areas there is sort of a stop and go light for the airplane. How does this work? Is there a sensor for when the nose wheel touches it the light turns red? If so, how does the sensor know which aircraft wheels to sense, because different aircraft can park at that same spot but their nose wheels are placed differently.
RE: Who Assigns Gates To Aircraft?
Out here.....Gates/Bays are allocated by Apron Control wing AOCC [airports operations control centre] which coordinates with Airline Dept & ATC.
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- Longhornmaniac
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RE: Who Assigns Gates To Aircraft?
Having been in and out of DFW enough, and listened to enough of the traffic on LiveATC, I can clear up a little bit about how DFW works.
Planes are usually assigned a complex (east or west runways) based on their flight plan. Planes on the Glen Rose (JEN9) and Bowie (UKW1) STARs are given the west complex, while planes on the Cedar Creek (CQY6) and Bonham (BYP5, I believe) STARs are given the east side. After landing, the controllers will ask them which side they're parking on (only for AA, as they have gates on both sides). Depending, they will give them taxi instructions. For a plane landing south (18s) on the west side, parking east, the controller will usually tell them to taxi via Bravo (the bravo bridge on the southern end of the airport), and contact East ground on 121.65 on the bridge.
With that said, I've seen plenty of occasions where we (coming from AUS, which is almost always on the JEN9 arrival), have landed on the east side (usually 17/35C). Also coming in from BUR, we landed on 35C. It happens, and is often done if the pilot knows which side they're parking on, and the airport isn't exceptionally busy.
Hopefully, some AA pilots might be able to clear up anything I've got wrong.
Cheers,
Cameron
Planes are usually assigned a complex (east or west runways) based on their flight plan. Planes on the Glen Rose (JEN9) and Bowie (UKW1) STARs are given the west complex, while planes on the Cedar Creek (CQY6) and Bonham (BYP5, I believe) STARs are given the east side. After landing, the controllers will ask them which side they're parking on (only for AA, as they have gates on both sides). Depending, they will give them taxi instructions. For a plane landing south (18s) on the west side, parking east, the controller will usually tell them to taxi via Bravo (the bravo bridge on the southern end of the airport), and contact East ground on 121.65 on the bridge.
With that said, I've seen plenty of occasions where we (coming from AUS, which is almost always on the JEN9 arrival), have landed on the east side (usually 17/35C). Also coming in from BUR, we landed on 35C. It happens, and is often done if the pilot knows which side they're parking on, and the airport isn't exceptionally busy.
Hopefully, some AA pilots might be able to clear up anything I've got wrong.
Cheers,
Cameron
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- contrails15
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RE: Who Assigns Gates To Aircraft?
| Quoting c5load (Reply 17): A little off topic question but still pertaining to gates, I've seen on some larger gate areas there is sort of a stop and go light for the airplane. How does this work? Is there a sensor for when the nose wheel touches it the light turns red? If so, how does the sensor know which aircraft wheels to sense, because different aircraft can park at that same spot but their nose wheels are placed differently. |
I'm guessing you talking about docking systems. Most systems you put in what aircraft will be pulling in and the system by sensor will marshal the plane in. Our docking system is pre programmed already because we only have two types of aircraft. The system will automatically go on 15 mins prior to the aircraft arriving. You can also manually do it. There is a dead man switch which is held down to activate the system and you simply release the button to stop the aircraft if need be. Hope that answers your question.
On gate assignments, we give out the gates to the pilots when there in range. We're by ourselves in the terminal which is why its just us.
RE: Who Assigns Gates To Aircraft?
I do. Check this out to see how it's done in both smaller and larger cities.
Gate Assignments- How Are They Determined?
Gate Assignments- How Are They Determined?
RE: Who Assigns Gates To Aircraft?
| Quoting AlnessW (Reply 13): And how about gate assignments in LHR Terminal 5? |
T5 gate assignment is done by BA but goes via BAA LHR stand allocation who could adjust them if they had good reason (I believe), but in practice won't. Similarly, when BA were split between T1 and T4, they did the gate assignments for those terminals while BAA did T2 and T3., but again everything went via BAA.
RE: Who Assigns Gates To Aircraft?
Kevin, this is how it works at the company that I work for in the United States:
Approximately 30 minutes prior to landing, the pilots send an "in-range" message to company operations via ACARS.
After a few minutes, a reply message is received in the flight deck (also via ACARS, of course) stating the assigned gate upon arrival.
Once the aircraft lands, upon initial contact with Ground Control, the pilot will tell the Ground Controller what gate the flight is assigned to and the controller will issue taxi instructions to that particular gate.
It's as simple as that.
e38
Approximately 30 minutes prior to landing, the pilots send an "in-range" message to company operations via ACARS.
After a few minutes, a reply message is received in the flight deck (also via ACARS, of course) stating the assigned gate upon arrival.
Once the aircraft lands, upon initial contact with Ground Control, the pilot will tell the Ground Controller what gate the flight is assigned to and the controller will issue taxi instructions to that particular gate.
It's as simple as that.
e38
RE: Who Assigns Gates To Aircraft?
The reason that atc ask for which gates they are using is to give them taxi info and which taxiways to use. DL will do a call in range and ask for which gate in most Florida cities down here like MCO, MLB, DAB, RSW, FLL and so on and If I remember right the ops freq for most DL cities in Florida is 131.85 if I can remember right.
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