How Air-Traffic Controllers Sound When They Have to Close the Airport
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Re: How Air-Traffic Controllers Sound When They Have to Close the Airport
#2There is a fundamental nature to aviation which I experience as a pilot, but is also very true for controllers. Planes can't just stop. If you decide you're in a bad situation, or overloaded, or just can't cope, there is no reset button. You have to get the planes onto the ground, one by one, over the minutes or hours it takes. This need breeds a sort of trance-like calm in successful controllers, even in the most stressful conditions.
Re: How Air-Traffic Controllers Sound When They Have to Close the Airport
#3Being able to deal with a stressful situation calmly is a mark of solid training and a work culture that emphasizes level headedness.
In addition to training though I wonder if those working in ATC all share similar personality types.
Re: How Air-Traffic Controllers Sound When They Have to Close the Airport
#4Similar recording of the BA crash at Heathrow. I am always impressed how professional they do things: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCK62U6Fob0
Another one of an engine failure at Manchester - the response of the ATC within 1 second of the mayday call is plain amazing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KhZwsYtNDE
Re: How Air-Traffic Controllers Sound When They Have to Close the Airport
#5I flew into LaGuardia from Knoxville last Sunday. A plane ahead of us landed safely but reported that the runway was slick. They closed the airport to take care of it while we were in a holding pattern for 20 min or so (in clouds/fog). Then we approached LaGuardia again only to be put into a holding pattern again.
Although circling in zero vis was unsettling (I was a passenger on a UsAir/American flight- I am not a pilot), the calls very well may have saved my life.
Re: How Air-Traffic Controllers Sound When They Have to Close the Airport
#6There is a fundamental nature to aviation which I experience as a pilot, but is also very true for controllers. Planes can't just stop. If you decide you're in a bad situation, or overloaded, or just can't cope, there is no reset button. You have to get the planes onto the ground, one by one, over the minutes or hours it takes. This need breeds a sort of trance-like calm in successful controllers, even in the most st…
Every time my stress has gotten really bad over any number of things (certainly none as critical as a plane's safe landing of course), at a certain point it does seem like a mental defense to just semi-accept that BEING stressed isn't going to help and things turn into a very calming feeling of "ok break this down as reasonably as possible and start fixing the problem"
Re: How Air-Traffic Controllers Sound When They Have to Close the Airport
#7I can't help but be reminded of Die Hard 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Hard_2
Re: How Air-Traffic Controllers Sound When They Have to Close the Airport
#8I had an opportunity to visit the Chicago regional center a few years ago to meet some of the controllers and learn how their systems work. Everything about the space is meant to keep these guys calm and focused on their job. It literally feels like being in a bit of a cocoon. Dark lighting, very large screens at each workstation, some physical controllers to quickly modify their on screen views. Their training also focuses quite a bit on constant recall of what they're looking at (in the event their systems suddenly die, they need to always know what planes are in their sequence and where generally they are) and of course stress management.
I'm glad The Atlantic has highlighted ATC in this instance. They are definitely an under-appreciated workforce.
Re: How Air-Traffic Controllers Sound When They Have to Close the Airport
#9I had an opportunity to visit the Chicago regional center a few years ago to meet some of the controllers and learn how their systems work. Everything about the space is meant to keep these guys calm and focused on their job. It literally feels like being in a bit of a cocoon. Dark lighting, very large screens at each workstation, some physical controllers to quickly modify their on screen views. Their training also…
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Re: How Air-Traffic Controllers Sound When They Have to Close the Airport
#10I can't help but be reminded of Die Hard 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Hard_2
More like Pushing Tin, a movie about ATC
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120797/