Situational Awareness; Even ATC Loses it Sometimes

There is nothing worse than flying into busy terminal airspace when the weather is bad and the pilots are feeling like they’re four or five minutes behind the airplane. The captain’s and first officer’s hands are moving furiously around the cockpit moving switches, updating the FMS and responding to the radio all the while listening to an ATC professional – yes, probably a NATCA member I bet – safely sort it all out from the ground.

Sometimes though, no matter how good it sounds coming out of the person’s mouth, it’s clear their brain is just not in the same place. And with the lack of patience most passengers have these days, as well as pilots at times, ATC delays are usually no laughing matter. 

Just like pilots though, ATC does sometimes completely “lose the picture,” as controllers call it. Take a listen to this ATC ground control session at JFK where that happened to a controller.

But this guy stayed professional and rolled with the punches and best of all, didn’t lose his cool. And neither did any of the pilots, a few who whom were making this fellow’s job even more difficult because they were obviously confused as well.

Nice job guys!

Technorati tags: Air+traffic+control, JFK, NATCA