Originally Posted by
JDiver
Link Here's a detailed blog article, part four of a series, of "behind the scenes at AA" that covers the current IOC with lots of photos.
Thanks for the info and link.
I've worked the gates, Tower (both sides) and SOC. But I left 13 years ago after a 20 year career.
Since leaving, I've often wondered how both the Tower and SOC have handled the growth.
I know the Tower has changed since it was a 2 terminal operation in my days. The wall on the Operations side of the Tower was a solid array of 40+ TVs watching the gates. Individual monitors at each station must be a big improvement. On the "tower" side of the Tower we tracked aircraft movements with little plastic "pucks" on a map of the terminal area.
SOC was busting at the seams in my days, even though it was a fairly new building. It looks as if they've changed the furniture on the main floor to squeeze each work station closer ... I remember it being much lighter and open than these photos show.
I agree that a centralized location is needed. I can't imagine the nightmare of trying to run an operation of this size with split operation centers.
There were times when DFW was major OSO ("off sked operation", what FT'ers call "IRROPS") that I felt part of the DFW Operations functions would've been better served at SOC.