Flying Anxiety~Overcome Your Fear Of Flying Today!
Air Traffic Controllers
  Air traffic controllers have been getting a lot of press time these days. Unfortunately, its been negative press about how short staff they been, and this issue has started to resonate with passengers creating further anxiety, and fears with the public. One point worth noting is that air traffic controllers have always been short of staff ever since I started in aviation over 20 years ago. So this is nothing new, its just the news media beating this story to death & scaring the flying public again. Air traffic controllers have always been short in demand since President Ronald Reagan fired them back in the early 1980's after they attempted to strike. Some of these controllers came back & but most didn't. It takes a very long time to train a controller to the level were they could work at a busy terminal airport like Atlanta Hartsfield. The best controllers work their way up to become full level controllers. This process takes years, and as a result many controllers are being overworked. People don't need to worry or suffer high anxiety over shortage issues. The bottom line is controllers & pilots worked through there hurdles by maintaining greater situational awareness. Although the experts say the risk of a runway incursion has increase, better training & reporting along with technology has reduce the risk. A runway incursion is when an aircraft gets to close in contact with another aircraft or vehicle on a taxiway or runway. Some of the recent technology that has help improved safety in the last several years is ground radar, & TCAS. TCAS or Traffic Collision Avoidance System lets pilots know when another aircraft in flight comes dangerously close to you such as 3 miles. It then talks to a computer on the intruder aircraft to start working out an evasive action for both aircraft to take. The computer will tell one aircraft to climb & the other to descend. Its a no brainier for pilots, and all you have to do is follow its commands. In fact, TCAS is so reliable that the regulations states in case of a conflicting orders from air traffic controllers, pilots should override controllers command & follow their TCAS. This technology has been out for over 15 yrs, and it works well. It has been rare that an air traffic controller was involved in a major accident. Most of the public doesn't see what goes on behind the scenes in an air traffic control tower, or center stations. Like most other aviation professional they do their job with pride & minimum mistakes. They are the best at what they do. Listen to live AirTraffic Controllers/Pilots communications... |