Day 22:

Today was the first of two days working IFR problems. Here's the deal, you are supposed to run the problem with your fellow classmates who act as pseudo pilots that run a program in tandem with yours. However, the program that the academy has been using to simulate IFR has glitches and other problems, so we moved to the TSS labs and ran problems in there with near zero vis.

So, as local control, you'll use your DBRITE to clear aircraft to land and to maintain/ensure separation of your traffic. When the aircraft have landed you will have them report clear of the runway then hand them off to ground. The reason that they must report clear is because you won't have an ASDE at "academy land" to depend on. After the aircraft reports clear, you can then launch or cross another aircraft.

On ground you're going to use non-radar (again, no ASDE). You will simply give aircraft taxi instructions around the airport as normal, however, you will solicit reporting points from the aircraft so as to ensure separation with other aircraft. Essentially you'll use paper stops most frequently to maintain separation. It's absolutely imperative that you know your airport layout to keep track of where your airplanes are. I'm sure this sounds a bit convoluted, but when you get down here you'll understand.

All of us had a chance to run a problem or two in the EDS labs as well. The EDS labs are a smaller version of the much larger TSS labs that have 5 large-screen TV's (52 inches I think) which simulate a tower cab. The conditions in the EDS labs were VFR, as they will be for the remaineder of the course after the IFR labs conclude tomorrow.