Many people do not understand what air traffic control is all about, when I tell somebody that I am an air traffic controller one ends up asking whether I am the guy who stands at the airport waving bats. Air traffic control involves providing ground based service where aircrafts are directed in the air and on the ground too.
The principal purpose of air traffic control is to make sure that aircraft are separated to avoid collisions, provide information to the pilots and organize the flow of traffic. (Buck, B and Buck, R 2005)
As an air traffic controller my job entails managing traffic from the airport, mostly to a radius of four to thirty miles. I give the pilots instructions on taxiing and take offs as well as landing. It is a very enjoyable job yet challenging at the same time. Many lives are on my hands, a little mistake can lead to disastrous results.
My job does not leave any margin of an error. I am required to be alert all the time so that I can give the right information at all time. This job has taught me to do several things at the same time as well as making me to be very keen with details. It is my dream job, what I have always wanted to be for a living.
It is a requirement that an air controller should not work for long without a break, this is due to the nature of the job as it is quite sensitive, and any stressful condition can result to disastrous result leading to a dangerous situation.
I mostly work in shifts which can either be in the morning or afternoons. In the morning I report to work at seven and in the afternoon at around two o’clock am assigned different position and typically work for one hour or two and then take a break .After the break I am rotated to a different position.
An air controller is usually briefed before taking over on a shift; this is usually done by the off going controller who must inform the on coming controller of all the aircraft that were under his or her control at the moment. It is the job of the air controller to ensure that at all the time the planes are safely separated both horizontally and vertically.
To do this one must be alert at all the time, when faced with a difficult situation a quick decision has to be made to bring it under control, failure to do this might lead to a nasty situation. One has to be able to think fast and offer the best solution to a situation.
The problems faced by the air traffic controllers are mostly related to the weather and the volume of the air traffic. There are times when the weather is not good or the volume of the aircrafts landing on a given airport is large such that extra work is unavoidable.
This requires the controller to work extra harder while at the same time maintaining his or her cool coupled with patience and alertness. These are qualities that every controller must portray to enable him or her perform the duties effectively.
On a busy day a controller can handle so many planes some of which are ascending other descending at different attitudes and traveling at different speeds. On such a situation the controller juggles from one plane to another giving the needed information to the pilots. It is such an exciting moment when one knows that so many pilots are depending on you to guide them through the air.
At the same time it can be a very horrifying moment when one realizes that a single mistake can lead to a very disastrous situation.
Working as an air controller gives such a satisfying experience where one gets to learn to think fast without any room for making mistakes. It is a job that is rewarding and at the same time very satisfying. A day spent working as an air controller makes a person satisfied and gives a room for development in all aspect.
Reference
Buck, B and Buck, R (2005) North Star over My Shoulder: A Flying Life, Simon and Schister
