Posted on 07/14/2008 2:50:17 AM PDT by Stoat
Here is a site that is interesting to listen to. It is live ATC feeds. Some of the real interesting stuff is in the captured recordings area:
Thanks,but I did it for 15 years.
My son,who works at the Atlanta Center,will back that up.
He flew with a regional in CRJ's for a couple of years and soon realized that airline pilots would never make the money they used to.He got picked up for training as a controller and changed careers about four years ago.His tales of bureaucratic idiocy seem to be getting worse. He told me that one day his supervisor was walking behind everyone's chairs and bending down at each station. When my son asked him what was going on he said he'd been tasked to make sure everyone was wearing socks!
His immediate supervisors,according to him,are examples of the Peter Principle,they've advanced to the level of their incompetence.They are more concerned about the dress code than they are about safety!
This job can be computer automated, outsourced, and even offshored so may be a bad bet for someone starting out. There will always be the need for onsite oversight but not much.
I have utmost respect for ATC. thanks for keeping planes sorted out.
I’ve been toldthe FAA is even worse today then when I wasa
controller.
I am a controller at the en route center in NY, 20 years experience.
The latest fad is only promoting extremely junior and incompetent people from “protected” classes into supervisory positions. The FAA has bids out for TEMPORARY 6 month supervisory details that require 5 years control experience. The bids for PERMANENT supervisory positions require just ONE year control experience. I am starting to feel like Charlton Heston pinned to his cell wall by a fire hose in “Planet of the Apes”.
It is almost impossible now to be washed out in training no matter how indolent or incompetent. Just file a grievance, an Equal Employment Opportunity complaint, or a hostile work environment charge and you get to start all over again. When I was hired 20 years ago there was a rigorous screening program for new hires which only a small percentage made it through. Now there is no screening process. A large number of trainees have recently come into my facility as a result of a social security number lottery for relatives of current FAA employees. None were screened for aptitude. There is a trainee in my area who was laboring under the false belief that Chicago is a state. Mark my words you are going to be reading about accidents and/or evasive action resulting in injuries more and more frequently.
No matter what you believe vectoring for arrival sequences in congested traffic areas, dealing with convective weather disruption of flight patterns, separating VFR from IFR traffic, and MANY other vital duties will NEVER be effectively automated.
It would be about as difficult as replacing the drivers of all the cars in manhattan with onboard computers.
Man, if only we could find 8 to 12 million hard working, family-oriented, Christian immigrants to help us fill these and many other positions in our ageing society!
I worked at the Tracon. Ben Sliney of United 93 fame was
one of my first line supervisors back then. I find it amazing that they have had two generations of controllers
and the problems are even worse. I should’n be surprised
since top staff was locked in a room together and would
not make a decision on (9/11). Then they tried to steal Ben’s glory after he made a decision that was widely hailed.
You must be getting close to retirement? Stay well!
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