But I see nowhere else has really mentioned the guidance system at all, and marshallers have only been touched on a little bit.
First off - what is a stand guidance system?
Thanks Wikipedia!
So, a stand guidance system is the machine which replaced marshallers in the bigger airports. I’ve been thinking about this, and at the minute there does not seem to be anything guiding the pilot and showing him where to stop.
I came up with a two tier progression system:
Marshallers
Marshallers are a new type of staff member who need to be hired to guide planes into all stands in the airport, from super small to super large. Only one is needed to guide in an aircraft, so only a few are needed for a small airport.
Or…Marshallers could instead just be ramp agents. Ramp agents could have the extra job of marshalling aircraft into the stands, and just pick up a pair of fluorescent sticks on the way!
Stand Guidance Systems
Mirror (A + B Stands, Current Small Stand)
So, this is literally what it says. It’s a mirror which shows the pilot the location of the nose wheel in relation to the stop markings on the stand. Cheap, but only really good for smaller planes.
Electronic (Stand Classes C and above, Current Medium Stand)
So here, and electronic camera of detector can see the aircraft and can identify the type, and gives a display which guides the aircraft to the correct stopping point. For example:
So, the Stand Guidance Systems could be an upgrade on each stand which replaces the marshaller. However, if random events are added a faulty SGS could be one, meaning redundant marshallers could have a use.
Of course, looking at the star ratings in the top-left corner of the flight scheduler, perhaps a stand guidance system could be required for higher 3, 4 and 5 star contracts…
Just a thought…
