First, a slight rant.
I was approaching Kai Tak airport from the south in a Cathay Pacific A330. I followed all Approach ATC instructions and eventually I was about number 3 in line to land. The approach controller notified us that he would be closing in 2 minutes. Finally, approach closed, but I still followed the vectors I was given beforehand. Suddenly, to my right, a giant 777 comes barreling at me- getting so close, it’s icon turned red. A new ATC comes online and tells me to expect vectors to Kai Tak. However, instead of clearing me for approach, the 777 is cleared, and I am instructed to climb once again and take another 30 minute circle of Hong Kong. I ended up quitting because I didn’t have time to make another full approach.
Now obviously it wasn’t the controller’s fault- he/she must’ve thought that it was my fault for being so close to the other aircraft. However, there may be a solution to this problem and other similar ones.
My idea: there should be sharing of logs between IFATC controllers. Basically, if ATC is going through a controller switch and the new controller comes on within 30 minutes, all of the logs are transferred to the new controller. This would allow the new controller to see exactly what had happened before they joined, which would help avoid confusion during controller changes, as well as make them more efficient.
Anyway, that’s my idea.
This is already the case, for the duration of your entire flight all your dialogue with unicom or ATC is kept, and any controller you speak to can read up and see it - also, your flight progress strip on the ATC side shows whatever approach and runway you have been assigned.
This is bad luck, happens when you have impatient people in the airspace, and then ATC do this already.
When an approach controller switch an aircraft to another approach controller, the aircraft’s TAG remains in the same service.
In your case, one controller closed the frequency and then another controller reopened. In this case, the aircraft’s TAG does not remain in the service you were in, so the new controller repeated for you expect vectors…, and thus be able to clear you for the approach requested correctly.
Now about the strategy of how to vector you, this should be discussed with the controller in question. Can you check which was the controller and send a PM?
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I’m not angry with what happened, I just want to make future events like that not happen, which is why I made a feature request for an ATC log transfer, which I feel would aid similar situations.
I don’t believe it was the ATC’s fault
Well I guess if it’s already implemented then never mind.
Controllers can already see the history or your communication when switching frequencies. Often times the airspace is very very busy and a controller only has a brief time to scan and see what you were given. Clearances have to be given again.
I think the bigger question is where you were in relation to the 777 and what each of you were told. There seems to be some missing information here so if you PM the controller with your replay they will be glad to explain what happened. Sometimes things happen in between controller changes and things can get hectic very fast.
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It’s alright, I don’t wish to make it a big deal- I just thought that the ATC messages cleared any time a new controller came in. (I guess don’t know much about the ATC side of IF) Also my replay file wouldn’t load for some reason. It would get to 94% and then stop.