Pedantic alert: ATCs don't close the airport. They can take a runway out of service, but they can't close the airport, that's the airport authority's job.
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
#12Very cool article and job well done by liveatc. Cool service that works well especially in these types of situations. Inspiring to be able to hear these professionals keep their cool under duress.
Re: How Air-Traffic Controllers Sound When They Have to Close the Airport
#13Being 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.
I think what is impressive is not just their ability to maintain their composure but how readily they enter "emergency mode" from what was most likely a boring, normal day. Their ability to context switch AND maintain a level-head through it and afterwards is commendable.
Re: How Air-Traffic Controllers Sound When They Have to Close the Airport
#14I 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…
If you're interested in getting a similar experience to Adam check out the FAA seminar "Operation Rain Check". These scheduled events occur around the country and typically include a tour of ARTCC, TRACON, and/or tower facilities. You need to be a pilot or a guest of one but it's a tremendously interesting experience if you can swing it.
Here's a description of a seminar from a couple of years ago in NY: http://www.faasafety.gov/SPANS/event_details.aspx?eid=43755
Sadly, the FAA doesn't have a great way to find out about these things unless you're signed up for email notifications but if this is the sort of thing you're interested in you're probably industrious enough to figure it out.
Re: How Air-Traffic Controllers Sound When They Have to Close the Airport
#15Pedantic alert: ATCs don't close the airport. They can take a runway out of service, but they can't close the airport, that's the airport authority's job.
I think saying that ATC's close the airport is accurate, in the sense that they're doing the work of rerouting all the planes away and so on.
Re: How Air-Traffic Controllers Sound When They Have to Close the Airport
#16There 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"
I would find this in a previous stressful job. My mental state would change from "I NEED TO DEFEAT THIS!" to "This is impossible to win, so I'll just focus on doing my best", and the subsequent stress would subside.
Re: How Air-Traffic Controllers Sound When They Have to Close the Airport
#17I just listened to the audio of US Airways 1549 today. Sullenberger reports both engines out like he just told his wife they're out of milk. I guess the training works.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Airways_Flight_1549
Re: How Air-Traffic Controllers Sound When They Have to Close the Airport
#18I used to be an ATC (in Australia, 7 years), and there is definitely stress there, but its like being in an insane asylum - you don't recognise that you, and everyone else, is mad.
There is also significant peer pressure to excel at your job. Not just be good, but to competently handle everything that comes. The regulations state that the purpose of ATC is to provide for the "safe, orderly and expeditious operation of aircraft movements." They apply that religiously, and in that exact order. Mistakes in even the simplest procedure,or even phrasing of comms, are not tolerated. Mistakes are seen as evidence of failure to cope with the stress, and result in operators being swapped out ASAP.
I remember it took about 2-3 months, after I resigned, before I felt free of the stress. I consider knowing how to recognise stress growing within me to be the most valuable thing I took from that part of my career.
As an aside, it is possible there is a similiar mindset, or skillset amongst controllers. I remember very clearly the selection process was very focused on 2 things
- maths and logic
- multitasking
The hardest test in the selection process was a combined map course plotting task, where you had to accurately plot out a course of about 15-20 waypoints, but every 60 seconds the examiner would read out a logic problem "if Jane wears blue on Tuesdays and green on weekends, what would she wear on the day before Monday ?" - stuff like that. You had to focus on plotting, correctly, as many map points as possible, AND correctly answer the puzzles being read out. That was the most directly relevant skill to the actual job of being an ATC, awareness of the task in front of you, and the ability to understand and act on the 'buzz' going on around you. They select for people who can perform accurately for multiple inputs, with time and cognition pressure. JM2CW
Re: How Air-Traffic Controllers Sound When They Have to Close the Airport
#19Oooo Aaaaa. Wow! Oh my god!
Uh people, that's what they're supposed to do. Please move along, save your dramatic headlines for something else.
Re: How Air-Traffic Controllers Sound When They Have to Close the Airport
#20There 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"
If I am by myself I find it fairly simple to "turn off" my stress and focus on the task at hand, employing the same rationale that you mention: being stressed isn't helping anything so let's focus our energies on fixing this problem.
One of the biggest obstacles I find in a working environment, however, is other people's stress. If someone is relying on me to fix a problem and they are very clearly stressed out about it, I find that their stress can impact me greatly. There is also the aspect that if I am able to be calm and focused during the stressful situation, while they are clearly stressed, it can be perceived as me lacking concern or having a blasé attitude toward the problem at hand, in comparison.