The Scanning Tool: Your Picture Is Only as Current as Your Last Scan
We’re continuing to build your ATC tool belt, one tool at a time, and that’s going to be the plan for the foreseeable future. This week’s tool is scanning.
It’s another foundational tool, and as you go through your career, your scan will change.
It needs to.
I want to open with a quote from Brian Tracy:
“The key to success is to focus our conscious mind on things we desire, not things we fear.”
That fits this topic well.
A lot of new controllers, whether you’re pre-Academy at Level 1, at the Academy at Level 2, or at your first facility at Level 3, get fixated. They lock onto one part of the radar, or one part of the problem they’re running. Instead of continuing to scan and deciding what’s next, they stare at the thing that worries them.
Where Scanning Fits in the Tool Belt
We’ve talked about multitasking, what it is and what it isn’t.
We’ve talked about rate of speech and finding a pace that lets you talk, write, listen, and think.
Now we’re adding another piece.
While you’re talking, writing, listening, and making transmissions, you have to keep looking.
I don’t mean getting distracted. I mean staying aware of where the last thing you looked at was, and continuing from there.
Scanning isn’t just looking at traffic.
It’s continually updating your picture, one aircraft at a time.
Scanning Is Not the Same as Looking
I’ve seen a lot of students and young controllers look at the radar.
Unfortunately, there’s no way to see where their eyes are or what they’re actually taking in. I’ve seen students stare at a radar display and still not see what’s happening.
You have to scan with a purpose.
When you scan, you’re looking for what has changed since the last time you looked at this aircraft. It has to be aircraft by aircraft by aircraft. That sounds tedious, and it sounds like it’ll take forever.
At the beginning, it will. There’s no way to sugarcoat that.
But as with everything in air traffic, if you persist in practicing, your scan will get better and it will get quicker.
Here’s what you’re asking about each airplane:
- Has anything changed? Has his route changed? Is there weather? Is he deviating?
- What didn’t happen that I expected to happen?
- Where are my potential problem areas?
- What needs my attention next?
- What can I stop worrying about?
- Where do I need to look again?
Every sector, whether it’s a center sector, a TRACON, or a tower, has problem areas you know are there. Every airport has taxiways that can become an issue and runway crossings that need watching. In a radar sector, you know where your point-outs are going to be, where the crossing traffic is, and which parts of the sector tend to have separation issues. You learn what they are, and they become a big part of your scan.
All of this adds up to one point: scanning isn’t just a skill you do with your eyes. It’s more about thinking than it is about your eyes. For each thing you look at, you quickly decide: Is that okay? Is it what I expect? If not, what’s different? Why? How is that going to affect me?
The Academy puts a premium on doing things by priority, and that’s where this question, what needs my attention next?, becomes huge.
I’ll be honest with you, too. In the 12 weeks of the en route Academy, you aren’t going to develop a great scan. You can develop a good one, but you have to practice.
The Fixation Trap
The biggest thing to watch for is getting fixated on one airplane, one area of your radar, or one area of the airport. I’ve done it myself.
When I was at the Academy for my terminal radar training, I was running a practice problem, and I kept looking over at one particular part of my radar. There were only a couple of airplanes over there. My instructor asked, “What are you looking at?” I said, “Well, I don’t know if that’s going to work.” He said, “Then do something about it.”
Hello.
Don’t just keep looking at it.
If it can possibly become an issue, do something about it.
That frees you from being fixated on one area of your scope, so you can look at everything else.
At the en route Academy, you might look at your radar and think, Ooh, I need to do something about that. He’s going to conflict with airspace. But you can’t do it right away. That’s what the blank strips are for. Use one as a notepad. Jot yourself a note with the call sign and what you need to do. Then hold it in your hand. Pick up the strip holder with the note and hold it in your non-writing hand so you can still do other things. It’ll annoy you just enough that you won’t forget it, and you’re free to go look at stuff that could become a problem before this guy ever becomes one.
A lot of students don’t make those strips part of their scan.
They should.
Fixation usually comes from one of a few things:
- A developing conflict (that was mine)
- A pilot who didn’t do what you expected
- A complicated clearance you need to give
- A difficult sequencing problem
- One airplane you’re concentrating on too hard
Meanwhile, the rest of the little pictures that make up the big picture keep changing, and you aren’t seeing them.
Also remember that the aircraft demanding your attention may not deserve it right now.
It can be as simple as a neighboring sector asking for an aircraft at a different altitude.
If you can’t do anything about it yet, giving it your attention is a mistake, because other things need to be done first. Write the note, hold it in your hand, and move on.
When an aircraft does demand your attention, and it should, because of its priority, solve the problem, but don’t stop scanning.
At the beginning, at the Academy, that’s very hard.
As you get more experience and more time under your belt, you’ll be able to do it.
This also ties back to multitasking.
The better you get at those other tools, the easier it is to keep your scan going while you’re talking, writing, listening, and planning what’s next.
Building a Pattern: The Wheel and the Spokes
One of the hardest things to do at the Academy, before you have much time as a controller, is develop a pattern for your scan. The en route Academy has a scanning lesson. It’s a very difficult one to teach, because everyone has their own way of doing it.
For me, it was always clockwise. This is what I told my students: it’s like going around the outside of a wheel. You hit the points where point-outs could be needed, and you work around the sector. You look at each data block and eliminate them one at a time. Do I need to do anything with him? No. Next.
When I find one that needs attention, but not right away, because of where it is or where it is in my sector, my scan changes.
Now it’s the spokes of the wheel, with that aircraft’s data block as the center.
Say I find one that needs a point-out and I can’t do it yet.
I move to the next data block clockwise.
Anything there? No.
Back to the one that needs the point-out.
Still can’t do it.
Next data block.
Back to the point-out.
If I find a second aircraft that needs something but not yet, now I have two centers for the spokes of my wheel.
I look at one new data block, return to the first one I identified, check the second one I identified, and keep going.
Once I’ve covered everybody on the radar, I look at my EDST, if I’m on the D-side.
I’m looking for color.
I’m looking at the top for red alerts first, then yellow.
I’m looking for IAFDOF, aircraft at the wrong altitude.
If I find one, I check his route of flight, I figure out whether it’s really a problem, and if it isn’t, I white it out.
I don’t leave it.
I take care of it.
Then I check the printer to make sure there aren’t any more strips.
I make sure I don’t have any notes to myself in my bay.
Then I’m back at the radar, starting over near me and going clockwise again, looking at every data block.
Like I said, it sounds like it’ll take a long time, and when you first start, it will.
But when you first start at the Academy, the scenarios don’t have that many airplanes. They give you time to develop the skill.
The pattern has to be your own.
Go counterclockwise if you want.
Try both ways in your practice scenarios.
But do this for me: once you get to the 11th week of radar, stick with one.
You’re no longer trying to develop a scanning pattern.
You’re already there.
In the last week of tower or TRACON, don’t try new things. Get better at the things you already do.
It’s also not like scanning a book.
You’re moving with purpose through your area, checking for important information, and you keep returning to the things that need your attention.
Suppose you’ve identified someone who needs a point-out, but at the Academy you can only do it within a certain number of miles of the conflict. He’s three minutes away from that point. If you don’t keep coming back to him, do you really think you’ll get back within three minutes?
Meanwhile, he can become a much higher priority and hit the airspace before you do the point-out.
That’s especially true of small aircraft headed into approach control airspace.
Those are traps, set by the FAA on purpose to get you.
So look with a purpose, and keep coming back to the aircraft that need something.
Repeat it enough times, and it becomes habit.
You won’t have to think about it.
And as your experience grows, you’ll know where to look first.
Instead of starting over by me, I’ll start at the problem areas.
Scanning for Change
At the Academy, you’re on the D-side in en route. You’re the one running the problem, so not much changes without you changing it.
At your first facility, aside from a few very distinct D-side-run sectors, the vast majority of sectors in the United States and the world are run by the radar controller.
He’s in charge.
You’re there to help.
So now a lot can change. The R-side may turn someone, climb someone, or descend someone. You have to see those changes in the data blocks. If you’ve developed your listening and multitasking tools, you may have heard it happen, so it won’t be a surprise.
The principle for this tool: don’t just scan to see where everything is.
Scan to see what has changed.
Scan to see what’s important.
And do it for each and every airplane.
Building It Across the Four Levels
Level 1: pre-Academy.
What can you do before you ever walk into the Academy or a CTI school?
For me, it’s puzzle games. I play games that keep my mind going and engaged, and even wake me up in the morning. One of them is Moonlight Mahjong. I play it on my computer, and I just downloaded it on my phone, where it’s a lot easier. I like it because it gets my eyes going. You’re trying to find pairs, so you’re actually scanning and having to look.
It’s not ATC, but it gets my scan going. And the more you play, the more you learn what to scan for in each puzzle, which is very similar to learning your sectors. To tell you the truth, I don’t know of another way to do it before you get to the Academy.
Level 2: the Academy.
Now it gets operational.
In non-radar, tower, and TRACON, and definitely in radar, you have to look, process, act on what you see, and then keep scanning.
You’re not trying to see one big grand picture and hold it in your head.
You’re trying to see each individual airplane, and ask whether it’s doing what you expected.
I do this constantly, even where I work today.
I clear someone for a certain runway with certain traffic, and I watch to see whether they do what I told them to do.
That’s part of the scan. Look, process, act, repeat.
One danger is stopping your scan while you talk, while you write, while you solve one problem, or while you think about what to do next.
That’s easy to do when you first start.
As you get experience, you won’t hit those stumbling blocks.
And the busier you get, the more important your scan becomes.
Level 3: your first facility.
Now you have to adapt your scan to real traffic.
The good news is you have an experienced controller training you. Ask questions, and not just of your trainer. Watch others work during slow traffic and busy traffic.
Soak up how they scan the sector and how they keep from fixating on one area.
Teamwork comes in here too.
You can tell when your R-side is fixated on something and missing something else. “Hey, don’t miss these two. Don’t forget about these two.”
Your trainer and the other controllers will all give you input on their scans.
Take it all in and build your own.
If you model yours on someone else initially, that’s great, because it works for them.
But it may eventually not work for you, so customize it.
Level 4: CPC.
Your scan becomes almost effortless.
If a new trainee asks you to explain it, you’ll be hard-pressed, because it’s just something you do. That’s why I say becoming an instructor is wonderful. You have to verbalize how and why you do things, and that reinforces the how and the why for you.
As a CPC, you recognize patterns.
You anticipate quicker and further ahead.
You notice when something is abnormal on your scope or in your tower.
You see things begin to develop before they become problems.
And if you start training someone, helping them build a scan is one of the best ways to get better at yours.
Where Scanning Meets the Six Drivers
The primary driver this ties to is the picture.
You build that picture one aircraft at a time, and the more efficient your scan becomes, the better the picture you’ll build on each airplane.
The only way to do that is with focused, intense practice. Period.
As your scan improves, it helps you plan what you’re doing next, what you’re doing after that, and what’s third.
But it all comes back to scanning, because this isn’t a chess board where the pieces hold still while you look away. This is 3D action chess, where the game changes constantly.
You have to keep scanning to keep up with your sector and your traffic, and you can’t perform without it, especially when the pressure is on.
How to Develop Your Scanning Tool
- Develop a pattern. Don’t look randomly. Look with a process you can repeat. Try different ways while you’re at the Academy or in training, and see what works. The scan can go through your success cycle: you try something, you fail at it, you adapt and learn, and then you get back in and try again.
- Keep your eyes moving. Don’t get fixated on an aircraft, a part of your radar, a part of your strip board, or a part of your airport. If you can fix whatever has your attention, do it. If you can’t, write yourself a note you won’t miss and pick it up. Then keep your eyes moving.
- Look for change. What’s changed? What’s different?
- Scan ahead. This guy needs a point-out, then that guy, then this one needs a route change, and ten minutes from now the other sector wants this guy’s altitude changed. That’s why I have that strip in my hand. Get where you’re a little proactive and not just reacting.
- Practice outside ATC. Puzzle games help. Driving is all about scanning. Sports are all about scanning and deciding the best next move. There are opportunities almost everywhere to practice scanning deliberately and recognizing what you’re seeing.
Don’t Rush It
I’ll be straight with you.
Scanning is subjective, because everybody does it differently.
At the Academy, you’re trying to learn the rules, separation, phraseology, and clearances all at once, and there isn’t much time for scanning. In en route, it’s one of the last lessons they teach, and it isn’t a long one.
So don’t rush it, especially at the beginning.
Be much more concerned with what each airplane is doing and whether you need to do something about it. Is he going to need a point-out? A route change? Is he headed toward airspace? Is he a lander who needs a different altitude?
Scanning keeps the picture current for every aircraft.
If you keep the picture current on every aircraft, the whole picture is current. You have to do it while you’re working a point-out or handling a higher-priority task, because the picture doesn’t wait.
ATC never stops changing, and you can’t either.
Let’s Close With Yogi Berra
If you know anything about Yogi Berra, you know he has some very interesting quotes. This one fits:
“You can observe a lot just by watching.”
As an air traffic controller, I’d add one thing: you have to know what you’re looking for, and you have to keep your eyes moving.
Keep updating the picture on each aircraft, and keep building your tool belt one tool at a time.
Remember this: your picture is only as current as your last scan.
Thank you for reading.
Another week, another tool for all of us to work on. If you want help, head to sidebysideatc.com.
You can set up a free consultation, and I’d love to talk about where you are in your journey. That’s true even if you’re a CPC, and even if you’re only considering becoming a controller. There’s no pressure. I’m not going to try to sell you anything. As a matter of fact, I’ll intentionally not sell you anything, so if you want any of my services, you’ll have to bring it up.
That’s not what I do. I want to help.
Remember, you don’t have to navigate your ATC journey alone, whether it’s with me or someone else. We can do it side by side.
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