Milton Keynes U.K. — An air traffic control gallery opened at The National Museum of Computing today featuring interactive exhibits highlighting the past, present and future of air traffic control.
Sponsored by NATS, the UK’s leading air traffic management company, the setting of the gallery in The National Museum of Computing has particular historic resonance because Bletchley Park, where the museum is located, was previously home to the company’s engineering training college.
The new gallery will appeal to a wide cross-section of the public and offer insights into the behind-the-scenes world that supports everyday air travel. It highlights the pervasiveness of computing in the modern world and how much progress has been made in a few decades. It will have a particular role in TNMOC’s Learning Programme by giving a glimpse of the variety of opportunities that careers in computer science and engineering can offer.
New exhibition at The National Museum of Computing – NATS flight control computers and flight simulator l/r Chris Monagham, Gary Gibson both from NATS with the museums Stephen Flemming
The centre-piece of the gallery is a high-fidelity Air Traffic Control Simulator that gives visitors a real sense of what it is like to be an air traffic controller at a NATS control centre or major airport today. In replay mode, visitors can observe aircraft movements on a panoramic three-screen virtual airport or a Control Centre radar display and listen to radio transmits between the controllers and pilots. In interactive mode, visitors can take up position at the simulators and experience, hands-on, being a controller while a member of the museum team acts as a pilot, flying the simulated aircraft in response to commands from the visitors.
Read more: http://www.mkweb.co.uk