Factor
Woodstock, VA
Male, 65
My life in ATC began with 4 years Air Force then another 30 years with the Federal Aviation Admin. working tower & radar at some big international airports. I fought in the 1981 war with PATCO, survived the strike and kept a job that was just too exhilarating to walk away from. While there was nothing better than working airplanes, I did move on through several air traffic supervisory and management positions. It was a long, crazy career but I wouldn't trade a moment of it for love or lucre!
Thanks for stopping by again! Bring your friends next time. I give group discounts!
During my years in military air traffic control, there were fairly frequent emergencies. Low fuel, engine fires, engines out, hung ordnance, smoke in the cockpit – all kinds of problems. No surprise though. The military pushes their planes pretty hard. I once saw a single engine fighter jet touch down without landing gear and slide down the runway in a shower of sparks. That was riveting enough but Just as it was coming to a stop, the pilot ejected from the aircraft. Maybe he thought the thing was going to catch fire. We sure did! Maybe he just panicked. I don’t know but his parachute barely had time to open before he bounced onto the runway. That had to hurt.
Once in the civilian end of ATC, emergencies were infrequent. There were occasional unsafe landing gear indications in the cockpit. The pilot would usually request to fly past the tower so we could make a visual check. Even if the wheels appeared to be down, the landing gear could still collapse when the plane landed. We would alert the emergency responders and keep our fingers crossed. There were several other kinds of “routine” emergencies where procedures required that we activate an emergency response. Although the outcome was completely safe most of the time, you wanted those folks standing by at arm’s length just in case! You know – the Murphy’s Law factor.
Once an emergency was declared; the most challenging part of dealing with it could be moving all of the airborne and ground traffic out of the emergency aircraft’s way. Emergencies, even the more routine ones, are given number one priority.
In my experience, both military and civilian controllers reacted to emergencies in a way commensurate with the crisis at hand. If you walked into a tower or radar room during most of those “routine” emergencies, you’d probably never know the controllers were dealing with a problem. Things are, as you say, “pretty calm.” But there are those rare and extreme emergencies when we knew, by the nature of the problem, that something bad was very likely to happen. A landing flight might have only two of the three main landing gear down. In that case, you know part of that plane is going to hit the runway but you don’t know what’ll happen after that. There was a situation I described in an earlier question, where the pilot died and his passenger, who was not a pilot, had to land the plane. Another nail-biter. “All hell” never breaks loose but the tension among controllers is palpable.
Thanks for your interesting question!
Cheers,
Factor
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Well Ruben, You’ve asked a very insightful question! The key word is “medications.” There are very few medications that controllers can take and still be allowed to do their job. The kinds of drugs that enhance concentration are strictly prohibited. There may be some non-prescription botanicals (herbal medicines) that would help but they’re really not necessary. The most effective concentration/focus enhancer a controller can use is more traffic! The busier we get, the more concentration is required and the more focused we become.
In the Seventies, when I was a newly minted journeyman controller, I had an interesting discussion with my neighbor one day, during a pause in our lawn mowing. I told him about my recent certification and what it felt like to work a busy radar sector without an instructor backing me as a safety net. Having all those planes and passengers depending on me alone was both terrifying and exhilarating. I’ll tell you though; I was never more focused in my life.
My neighbor, a Cardiologist, smiled and spoke of a similar feeling when, during his first open-heart surgery, he touched a live human heart. When you absolutely have to depend on your own knowledge, skills and judgment to get a job done; there is no need for medication. You concentrate, you focus and you may even experience an adrenaline rush.
Through most of my career, the only consumable stimulants used in our workplace were great quantities of caffeine and nicotine. Oh yeah! Back then, people smoked in the tower till you could hardly see out the widows.
Thanks for asking!
Factor
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Good question! Basically, the answer is - If you are still actively engaged in the separation and control of air traffic by age 56, “they just boot you out the door!” There is an exception though. FAA regulations state that they may exempt a controller “having exceptional skills and experience as a controller from the automatic separation provisions until the controller becomes 61 years of age.” Assuming you were hired before turning 31 (the maximum age you can become an FAA controller is 30), you will still retire with at least 25 years of service. Depending on where you were working; you might be ready to run for the door by age 56!
There are “other FAA roles” that controllers can move into, such as staff and upper management positions, but they shouldn’t wait till they are about to get the boot before bidding on such jobs. I suspect the competition is tough.
On the bright side, Federal retirement benefits are still fairly good. Also, retiring at age 56 means you still have plenty of time left to write that book, open a lemonade stand or start up the career ladder in the fast food industry. Actually, several of the controllers I knew went to work with Aviation consulting companies that do business with the FAA. I hear they pay pretty well!
Thanks for writing!
Factor
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Hi Tom. Congratulations on your upcoming graduation! My initial advice is to disregard what people are telling you. Either that or find someone who will say you’ll probably win the Powerball Lottery before you turn 31. Between us; I think your odds of being selected for a controller position are much better. What I’m trying to say is that you shouldn’t believe what people are telling you unless they officially represent the recruiting arm of the FAA. Even then, they can be misinformed. Try for a second opinion.
Assuming you are enrolled in the Air Traffic Collegiate Training Initiative and will graduate with a degree in Air Traffic Control Management, I’d recommend you work as hard as you can and be optimistic about the outcome. As more and more controllers reach the maximum age limit of 56, the FAA will definitely have to hire new ones. They will be looking for people like you.
Thanks for writing!
Factor
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Hello “No. 1 Uncle,” and a happy 4th back at you! I hope you enjoyed a fabulous fireworks display.
In order to obtain a permit for public fireworks displays, the organizers must obtain approval from the Federal Aviation Administration. Any conditions the FAA imposes must be followed in order to receive that permit. The FAA then makes the information on such events available to those who need to know.
I can’t say there have never been aircraft accidents due to fireworks displays. Using absolutes like “always” or “never” tend to get me into trouble. I’ll just say I don’t recall hearing of any and that makes sense to me. After all, aeronautical charts clearly indicate minimum safe altitudes (MSA) to fly at. Planes rarely operate below the MSA unless they are taking off or landing. It’s a pretty safe bet your FAA won’t approve fireworks displays near an airport, along those departure or arrival paths. Besides, fireworks don’t go much higher that a few hundred feet. Certain flights do operate at those altitudes but only during daylight hours; a bad time for fireworks. These planes are involved in such things as crop-dusting, banner towing, aerial photography or some other low altitude mission.
I hope this answers your question. Thanks for writing!
Factor
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I think I can help you James. I’ll tell you a story that isn’t really fiction but it’s close enough to fool most anyone.
The scene was a fairly large airport located somewhere North of Florida. Characters in this story included a team of tower controllers plus several local and Federal law enforcement officials. One of them had called the control tower and advised the supervisor that they had been tracking a suspected drug smuggling plane ever since it left Central America several days prior. It was expected to land at this airport very soon. The Agent was very specific in his instructions to the tower supervisor. When this flight checked in with the tower, controllers were to act as normal as controllers can possibly act. As if that wasn’t difficult enough, there were additional instructions.
Upon landing, the plane was to be guided to a specific parking area on the ramp, where extensive preparations had been made to arrest the crew. The supervisor briefed his controllers, who immediately grew excited by the idea of taking part in a drug bust! The excitement intensified with each passing minute. Eventually, the airplane did call the tower for landing instructions. All seemed normal as the plane landed. There were no signs the pilot was suspicious as the tower controller instructed the flight to contact Ground Control.
Now, we were all sure that the “preparations” must have looked like a scene out of Miami Vice; with walkie-talkies crackling away in everyone’s ear, snipers hidden in the shadows and a dozen SWAT Team guys, dressed in black and ready to storm the plane. We all watched as it taxied off the runway toward the parking area.
The ground controller appeared a little nervous but responded promptly and professionally when the suspect aircraft called him. After all; this was his moment to shine – his 15 minutes of fame! The response he gave would become permanently ensconced in local ATC folklore. Remembering everything he’d been told about the situation by his supervisor (but apparently forgetting the part about why), he instructed the pilot to “Taxi to the Northeast corner of the ramp. The Federal agents are waiting to meet you there!”
The plane made a quick turn back onto the runway and accelerated. It lifted off, leveled at crop dusting altitude and vanished quickly over the horizon. Nobody heard whether the pilot was ever caught but the tower supervisor sure was. Within minutes, the cab was full of astonished and very irate agents who had brought with them a huge headache for that supervisor.
Thanks for writing and have fun with your fiction.
Factor
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Hello Jim! Thanks for bringing up a very important issue. Whether pilot or controller; thunderstorms are the bane of their workday. All three factors you mentioned can affect the safety of flight. Lightning can be pretty disconcerting but not as dangerous to an airplane as you might imagine. Today’s planes are given extensive lightning certification tests to ensure the safety of their design. That could be why the last commercial plane crash attributed to lightning happened in 1967.
The lack of visibility, although a hazard in some instances, is not a major problem for pilots flying in or near thunderstorms. Rather than looking out the cockpit windows, they’re normally relying on the aircraft’s flight instruments to keep it properly oriented.
By far, the biggest safety hazard relates to the tricky winds found in and around those things! Accident investigation reports are rife with accounts of what can happen when airplanes experience the vertical wind shears and microbursts associated with thunderstorms (See Eastern Airlines Flight 66 landing JFK in 1975 or Delta Flight 191 landing DFW in 1985 as examples). Especially hazardous when planes are operating near the ground (taking off or landing), such winds can cause the aircraft’s wings to lose the lift they need to maintain flight. If this happens to a landing airplane (and it can happen instantly), all the available engine power may not be enough to save it.
When a plane loses the lift needed to maintain flight it becomes more like a brick that someone has thrown. It may still be traveling forward but only due to forward momentum and only for a very short time. I saw this happen from one of the control towers I worked in. An airliner flew through a thunderstorm situated on the final approach course and turned into that “brick” within a mile of the runway. When I finally saw the plane; it was no longer really flying but wallowing left and right as it fell. Fortunately, it fell onto the grass adjacent to the runway and eventually slid to a stop. The aircraft was destroyed but incredibly, there were no fatalities. I’ll tell you though; my shift couldn’t have ended fast enough.
Thank you for writing,
Factor
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