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!
Requirements have changed some since I signed on. For the absolute latest developments, I suggest doing a web search for air traffic controller education requirements. The last time I checked, applicants had to enroll in one of the education programs authorized by the FAA, pass a pre-employment aptitude test for the job and have either completed four years of college, have three years of work experience or a combination of both. It was also possible to get in with military experience. Once accepted into training, expect 12 weeks of intensive instruction at FAA’s Academy in Oklahoma City (a great town!). It’s a tough three months and about 50 percent of the trainees are washed out during this phase. Graduates are assigned to an air traffic control facility where they start off with more classroom time. Then it’s on to the control rooms for on-the-job training. From there, it can take between 18 months and three years to become a fully certified controller. If you are considering ATC as a career, those are the tangible requirements. After many years in the profession, I can tell you that the intangibles are at least as important. Maybe more so. ATC can be either the best or the worst job ever; depending on your attitude and expectations. Like a drug; it’ll take you high as the sky. Just be aware that what goes up must come down. Things can and will go wrong now and then. It happens to all of us but when it happens to controllers, it’s a hard landing. Cheers, Factor
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Thanks for your questions! I was still onboard when Uberlingen happened. As you can imagine, controllers are always fascinated by aviation accidents – especially those involving air traffic control. That’s why you’d find copies of the latest National Transportation Safety Board accident reports in many controller break rooms. We’d talk about each accident; attempting to reconstruct the events and decisions leading up to it in a way that might change the outcome. Sometimes 15 or 20 minutes of second guessing and saying things like “I sure wouldn’t have done anything that stupid!” or “Why didn’t they do (whatever)?” had the effect of distancing us from the reality that it could have happened here.
Midair collisions, or “aluminum showers” as we called them, are a controller’s worst nightmare. Uberlingen was the embodiment of that nightmare. Sure, there were contributing factors such as how the flight crews should have reacted to their TCAS (collision avoidance) alerts, contrary instructions from the controller, etc. To us though, the real issue was having two aircraft on converging courses, at the same altitude. That’s a bad setup and one that should be avoided whenever possible. If unavoidable, it must be monitored continuously to ensure that one plane either passes well ahead of, or behind the other. And if the controller becomes distracted by other duties? That’s how the nightmare begins.
The fact that there were two controllers on duty but one was sleeping made us squirm in our seats. The practice of allowing one controller to sleep for the first half of a midnight shift then swap with whoever worked that half was common practice at many facilities.
As to lessons learned? Not much. I already mentioned the bad setup of two converging flights at the same altitude. In converging situations, the best controllers always try to build in some altitude separation. It’ll save the day if they become distracted. The fact there were two controllers on duty but one was absent from the control room reminded me of my early years in ATC. It seemed safe after midnight, when there was very little air traffic but there’s no doubt an extra set of eyes can prevent a catastrophe.
I doubt there were any new training or procedural initiatives taken because of this accident. For controllers, there were existing directives and good operating practices already in place that would have covered a Uberlingen type situation.
Thanks for the interesting questions!
Factor
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Good question. Yes, I believe such technology is possible and actually inevitable for military applications. It could also be used for civilian air travel but I’m not so sure it would be a cost effective way to fly. The first generation of supersonic commercial aircraft, such as the British Airways Concorde, were never very profitable. They were relatively small inside, uncomfortable and capable of carrying far fewer passengers than a Boeing 747. Yet ticket prices were many times higher than that of a conventional international flight.
If I had to fly from NY to LA; I think I’d just leave a bit earlier on a standard jet liner. The money I saved could get me some fine dining and/or shopping in Manhattan!
Cheers,
Factor
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This is another great question for anyone considering an ATC profession! Actually; if you are 31, you are already too old to become an FAA controller. Here’s an excerpt from their policy; “...a maximum age of 30 years is established for entry into civilian air traffic control positions in the Federal Aviation Administration...” The only exception I know of would apply if you have prior military experience as a controller. The are private companies who provide ATC services but I have no knowledge of their age requirements.
At the other end of an ATC career, the FAA also has a maximum retention age for those “actively engaged in the separation and control of air traffic.” It states that, with a few exceptions, controllers are required to hang up their headsets at age 56.
Yes, you can work as an ATC after age 31 but learning the job and developing the necessary skills is best done at an earlier age. Most controllers I worked with were at peak performance in their thirties. I started my ATC career at age 19. Regarding that mandatory retirement age, I’ll say that ATC is a young person’s game. Depending on where controllers work and how much traffic volume and complexity they have to deal with – they can lose their edge at a fairly early age. Sometimes it’s best to quit while you’re ahead.
Cheers,
Factor
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Thanks for writing, Dave. Although many air traffic controllers work for private companies, most are employed by the Federal Government, in either the Department of Defense (DOD) or the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). I spent most of my ATC time in the FAA.
I don’t know much about how difficult it is to oust an employee from other Government agencies but to throw a controller out of the FAA is very, very difficult. In fact, you’d have better luck trying to throw a bowling ball into an open window on a speeding train. A “single high-profile mistake” should be sufficient justification if the employee was proven to have been grossly negligent or was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. This would be an extraordinary situation though. In my experience, most attempts to remove an employee from his/her current position were based on far less dramatic circumstances.
As is the case with certain other professions; not everyone is cut out for ATC. The hope is to identify those individuals during the hiring process. If pre-screening fails, on-the-job training usually uncovers those who are in - way over their heads. Unfortunately, removing such individuals before they make that big mistake can be a protracted and ambiguous process. Documentation is key and relies heavily on the diligence of training instructors and supervisory personnel to ensure that substandard performance becomes part of the trainee’s official record. In other words; put it in writing!
Demands of the job sometimes keep on-the-job training instructors and supervisors too busy to maintain comprehensive performance documentation. This can have unfortunate consequences. In my experience, most individuals who were deemed training failures appealed management’s decision. Unless there was sufficient documentation to support that decision, management would lose. Being able to remain in a job that they’re not really capable of handling means the employee loses too. They just might not realize the fact until it’s too late.
Cheers,
Factor
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Wow. Now there’s a question more chilling than the beer coolers we kept in the tower! If the FAA had banned “Airplane” quotes, it would undoubtedly have lead to even more fistfights with those wimps in Management. Not that knocking a Supervisor down the tower steps would be a big problem – but it might have wakened the controllers trying to get some sleep downstairs! Then we’d have TWO problems; pissed off controllers and the indefinite loss of a Supervisor who kept us all supplied with amphetamines, beer and glue! Damn! Everybody would have to go back to rehab; where the meals are worse than airline food! Thinking about that is even scarier than “Airplane!” and all the other aviation documentaries!
What? You thought “Airplane!” was a comedy??? Jeezus!
Real life. “Thank God it’s only a motion picture!”
Factor :))
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That’s a tough one. There were several of each over the years. I remember seeing a large airliner make a hard landing during a severe thunderstorm. It went off the runway and broke in half in the grass. It was raining heavily when I saw the passengers come scurrying out of the wreckage. Fortunately, there was no fire and not a single fatality! I also recall watching a small, twin engine commuter aircraft take off. A couple hundred feet off the ground, the nose pitched up, the plane tilted sideways and fell. It made a large, smoking hole in the grass and no one survived. "I'll have these moments to remember."
Every November I recall a particular accident involving a small, privately owned, airplane. The pilot had flown into an airport we had control jurisdiction over. Another fellow and I were working the radar sector when he later took off with his young son. It was the Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving and they were headed home for the holiday. All was normal as the plane climbed to four thousand feet. It was then that we lost radio and radar contact with the flight. Local authorities quickly found the main wreckage site. One wing was missing and later located a mile or so away. No survivors. That one really bothered me.
The near misses I’ve seen weren’t as memorable – except for one. I was supervising the radar operation when one of my controllers issued a turn to one of the airliners he was working. To make a long story short, the pilot turned the wrong way. The turn took him directly into the path of another airliner flying at the same altitude. Both flights were operating in the clouds and couldn’t see each other. The two radar targets merged into one and my heart nearly stopped. In my head, I could see the two aircraft colliding, the fireball, the falling wreckage and the next day’s headlines. It was the most horrifying moment of my life. Just seconds later, when the radar antenna scanned that area again, I saw the two targets moving away from each other. I nearly fell over.
And they wonder why controllers drink.
Thanks for the question!
Factor
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