TUTORIAL
By Franklín Andrésson
Version dev
HOW TO PLAY?
CONTROLS
THE JOB
You work TOWER and GROUND together. Click an aircraft on the map, or its strip, to fill the callsign, then type the clearance into RADIO and press Enter.
The dropdown lists the legal next words: arrows to pick, Enter to send. The route draws on the map before the clearance goes out, flashing while it is incomplete and solid once it reaches the target.
INSTRUCTION SHAPE
Every clearance is the same three slots: [CALLSIGN] [TARGET] [PATH]. TARGET is where the clearance ends: a runway hold, a gate, a stand, or a pushback facing. PATH is the vias in the order they are flown, starting with the one the aircraft is already on.
Taxiway letters and runway numbers are the ones painted on the field. SHOW TAXIWAYS in the top right corner lights them up. Where two paths reach the same parking, swapping the last taxiway sends the route the other way, and both still end in the same place.
DEPARTURE FLOW
Gate to airborne is three clearances.
HOLD stops them where they stand, mid-push or mid-taxi. After a hold short, RESUME continues the rest of the clearance.
ARRIVAL FLOW
An inbound is three clearances, from final to parking.
If the approach is not working, GO AROUND. MIN SPEED then RESUME SPEED buys spacing on final.
HOLD SHORT AND PASS
Prefix a taxiway or runway with - or -- to stop short of it. Type the dash in the PATH slot, or the TARGET slot, and the dropdown switches to HOLD SHORT / HOLD PAST.
PASS is not a destination of its own. After a taxiway hold short it gives way to whoever is rolling that taxiway, then continues onto it.
LINE UP BEHIND
19 LINE UP BHND holds the aircraft at the entry until the traffic ahead is out of the way, then lines it up. That is an arrival rolling past the entry, or a departure moving away from the line up point, whichever is the case at the time. Long form: BEHIND.
There has to be traffic to be behind, or the command will not take.
CROSSING A RUNWAY
CROSS 19 authorises the taxiways and fillets over that strip. BKTRK 19 is CROSS plus travelling the centreline, a backtrack.
Without one or the other, the hold line blocks the path and they stop there.
SPLIT RUNWAY OPERATIONS
There is no command for this. You choose it by clearing landings and takeoffs on more than one strip. On a crossing layout (BIKF 10/28 × 01/19) that only pays if you can keep the intersection empty.
If you cannot protect the junction, keep a single runway. More traffic is not a reason to split.
COMMAND LIST
Every line starts with the callsign. It is already filled in if you clicked the aircraft or its strip.
ABOUT
Hi.
My name is Franklín, and I am behind TWRCTRL.
I made this game after feeling nostalgic about times doing virtual air traffic control on flight simulator networks a few years ago. However, much of the motivation also comes from my aviation background: such as having been a student pilot, graduated from aircraft maintenance school, worked at an aerospace engineering company, made my own flight simulator mods, and in general just flying a lot as a passenger.
I am also very punctual on a day-to-day basis in almost everything I do, so in making a game that reflects that does indeed prove that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
I hope you find satisfaction in the hectic nature of air traffic control, it is a lot of multi-tasking. Many hundreds of hours have already been poured into making TWRCTRL, with many more to come in between engineering projects.
Do things that you love, and they'll be done well.
Thank you for reading this, and thank you for playing my game.
Best regards,
Franklín
CONTACT
Contact me regarding anything: bugs, inquiries, airport requests, you name it!
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