ATC earns severe reprimand

Opinion

March 5, 2010

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Anonymous The Daily Southerner Fri Mar 05, 2010, 11:05 AM EST

Today, we heard a news report about how an air traffic controller took his children to work with him and allowed them to talk on the two-way radios to pilots. He allowed them to communicate flight clearances and take air traffic reports.

During my first four years in the U.S. Air Force, Air Traffic Control (ATC) was my job.During periods of heavy air traffic, ATC is considered to be one of the most stressful jobs in the world. After I completed Officer Candidate School, I retrained into maintenance of ground electronics, RADAR, computers, etc. – much of that equipment was used for ATC. ATC was so stressful that I probably would not have stayed in the Air Force for 20 years if I had not left that career field.

The controller has to mentally sit in every aircraft that he/she is controlling and think far ahead to keep that aircraft and all others clear of each other, keep them clear of obstructions, and keep them on schedule.

However, I have to believe that it was a duty shift, when air traffic was at a minimum, when the controller in today’s news had his children on duty with him. During peak traffic periods, activity can approach bedlam with nerves on edge and child distractions could not be tolerated. Certainly, that controller must have had his hand on or near the mike button, just as I did when training a new controller.

But the pilots did not know that. Each pilot must have complete confidence in the instructions being given to him/her by every controller. Often the aircraft is immersed in clouds and the pilot must completely trust that no conflicting traffic is near or approaching. Even if the sky was clear, it must have been quite unnerving to the pilots who were hearing children talking on the air-ground radios.

On the other hand, however, even though the controller used poor judgment in that instance, he is probably very competent. And, I would bet my last dollar that no procedures had ever been issued by management that precluded what he did. He certainly should be severely reprimanded.

However, I believe his value to the ATC system and the long time it takes to train a good controller justifies retaining him as a controller.

Oliver Curtis Powell

Rocky Mount

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