Your Air Traffic Controller At Work

[semperfi71]

I am retired from an Enroute Air Traffic Control Center. We were in a large building with lots of radar scopes and people to work them. We handled all air traffic above 18,000 feet, civil and military. Also we worked any air traffic below 18,000 that was outside any approach control or tower.

I was "closing out" my records today and found this photo. It's me about 1999 or so when we were still using the older radar equipment. As you can see I am very busy "moving the heavy metal". We didn't use the term "pushing tin" that's a tower phrase. A lesser term in our mind.

You taxpayers were/are getting a lot of "bang-for-your-buck" when it comes to ATC.......

 

[Munsterf18]

So that's what they mean by "Sorry, I was on the land line."

 

[DeathGrip]

I feel so much better now.

 

[JOERM]

What's wrong with this picture? Heck, the pilots land in the dark, fog, can't see chit and land just fine so why the need for an ATC?

Glad to know that ATC's workers are not over worked! Was this when the ATC went on strike and Pres. Regan fired ya all?? That was cool of him and by law he had to.

BTW, who were you talking to on the phone and left it off the hook??

joe

 

[29aholic]

Hey Semper, I for one applauds your service. My Dad was an ATC for 47 (yes 47) years counting time in service (the navy). He was an ATC longer than most ATC's have been alive. My little brother followed in his footsteps and has been one for 15 years. Dad was so well respected he has an intersection named after him outside Springfield MO metro.

 

[feralmerril]

Did you ever work at the palmdale sector?

 

[RdrBill]

All.
I am the ATC Maintenance supervisor at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma. Small town, large amount of airspace.
My technicians maintain the radar, radios, Tacan, and much more to keep the controllers seeing and talking to the aircraft.
We also clean coffee, cigarette ashes and drool off the keyboards and radar scopes.
That picture can be a sleeping controller or just one that has had enough.
Bill@Yuma

 

[semperfi71]

feralmerril, I worked Albuquerque Center, Palmdale sector is Los Angeles Center.

29aholic, Thanks. Truth be known the taxpayers do get a lot of bang-for-the-buck when it comes to ATC. On 9-11 there were over 4,000 aircraft in the ATC system and they were on landed within 2 hours or so. Safely (there were some close calls).

RdrBill, we have visited here before, I was at MCAS Yuma as a controller from 1972 to 1975. Besides defending the surrounding orange groves from "communist infiltrators" I did a lot of fine bass and catfishing at Mittry Lake, Gila River, The Rock Quarry, and Hunter's Hole.

 

[29aholic]

9/11

feralmerril, I worked Albuquerque Center, Palmdale sector is Los Angeles Center.

29aholic, Thanks. Truth be known the taxpayers do get a lot of bang-for-the-buck when it comes to ATC. On 9-11 there were over 4,000 aircraft in the ATC system and they were on landed within 2 hours or so. Safely (there were some close calls).

RdrBill, we have visited here before, I was at MCAS Yuma as a controller from 1972 to 1975. Besides defending the surrounding orange groves from "communist infiltrators" I did a lot of fine bass and catfishing at Mittry Lake, Gila River, The Rock Quarry, and Hunter's Hole.

semper
An interesting story concerning ATC's and 9/11. My brother was working the graveyard shift early morning on 9/12. An aircraft came into Ft Smith's radar coverage and the chit printed out. Russ said the hairs stood up on the back of his neck. The aircraft was B52 call sign "Doom" and it was carrying nukes.

Another story he told was of a corporate pilot who had flown into Ft Smith and had gotten grounded with everyone else. This guy had been around for years and was known as the peanut man because he always brought bags of peanuts to the controllers. Russ was on station when they opened the airspace to planes with special permission. Now Russ knew the peanut man was not a threat to national security so he assigned the pilot a number and let him take off so he could get back home. ~4 minutes after the plane took off the phone in the tower rang. It was SAC in Cheyenne Mountain telling Russ if he did not call the pilot back in 5 minutes they were going to shoot him down. Things were pretty touchy at the time.

 

[semperfi71]

They were touchy for a while.

We had a corporate jet, perhaps a Lear or a Citation flying over El Paso to Dallas. All aircraft were instructed to land at the nearest available airport...PERIOD.

This pilot was refusing and stating he would continue to Dallas. He was instructed two or three times by the controller to land at El Paso. With the last refusal the controller told him, "If you do not land at El Paso you will be shot out of the sky by F-16s." The controller had none close by but the bluff worked, the pilot said, "I guess we're going to El Paso."

Ever since I began my service at the Center the military watched the international borders and any aircraft that was not notified to them was launched on and followed or tracked by a pair of fighters. By 9/11 the program was sophisticated enough that it rarely happened. After 9/11 ANY suspicious aircraft was launched on anywhere.

 

[29aholic]

Hey semp
Just in case you wanted to know the intersection named after my Dad is Brier outside SGF, and my little Brother Russ Brier is at that facility now. Dad was the assistant chief before he retired.

 

[semperfi71]

29aholic, tell them a former controller says howdy.

It was a custom for the folks naming intersections to name them after favorite supervisors, controllers, or even their kids. We had one lady name two intersections after their kids.

 

[29aholic]

29aholic, tell them a former controller says howdy.

It was a custom for the folks naming intersections to name them after favorite supervisors, controllers, or even their kids. We had one lady name two intersections after their kids.

Will do and I give them the same back

 

[Herknav]

It was SAC in Cheyenne Mountain telling Russ if he did not call the pilot back in 5 minutes they were going to shoot him down. Things were pretty touchy at the time.

You mean "NORAD", not "SAC".

 

[29aholic]

You mean "NORAD", not "SAC".

Yep you are correct. I forgot the acronym but SAC was kinda close

 

[Herknav]

Sorry, I wasn't trying to be "that guy." I worked with those guys for a couple of years.

I'm sure you've got some great stories. I'll share two.

We flyers like to razz ATC, but I saw a controller save somebody's life one time. It wasn't too long after the Payne Stewart accident. We swapped sectors just in time to hear the controller trying to talk to a not-really-responsive pilot at about 12K feet or so. The controller got the pilot to pay attention long enough to direct him to the emergency O2. As expected, a couple of whiffs made him right as rain. I'm confident the controller saved the pilot's life, with not much wiggle room to spare.

We were coming back to Tx empty one night, and we were near Denver with the jet stream on our tail. As a result, we were making about 420 knots of groundspeed, and had climbed to 31,000 just because we could. We swapped sectors and checked in, "Aegis ##, level at 310." The controller promptly responded, "Radar contact." After a slight pause he came back, "Aegis, confirm you're a Charlie 130? Those numbers just don't look right."

Thanks for your service, and good luck.
Herk

 

[djohns6]

My late father in law was tower chief at Baton Rouge for many years .

 

[29aholic]

One of my fondest childhood memories was watching a Blue Angels airshow from the tower cab. To date myself a little, they were still flying F-4 Phantoms. Best I can remember the noise scared the crap out of my little brother. The day the BA left to go to their next show Mom got a call from Dad, who was working, telling her to take us out in the front yard. Dad sent the Angels over the house...probably a little lower than they should have been. I'll never forget watching them fly over in formation. I remember bawling my eyes out a few months later when I found out that 2 or 3 of those guys augered in doing practice maneuvers.