Originally Posted by
PaxBritannica
In non-ATC airports, pilots are aware and operate accordingly. This is quite different from a major international airport where flight crew know that there are many a/c in the same airspace and expect a highly-managed environment.
On the night in question, there was a long queue of flights lined up for landing. If everything went smoothly, flights may indeed have landed in 'an orderly fashion'. But things don't always go smoothly. Assume that the single controller had, say, become unconscious. It one flight had failed to clear the runway in time (perhaps not knowing which exit to take, lacking tower instructions), or a vehicle encroached on the runway, there would be no way for the following flight to know that and execute a go-around. How long would it take for the 'spare' controller to become aware of his/her colleague's absence? How long to run upstairs and assimilate the situation?
The single-controller situation seems to me to be a risk. That might be acceptable in a small, remote airport with few flights. But in SFO? With ground and airport full of a/c and vehicles? A major international airport should not be allowed to take that kind of risk.
Well, it happens all the time. The tower controller doesn’t have a lot to do when it comes to landing aircraft, just clear them to land, they’ve already been sequenced by approach. Remember the controller is busy because he’s dealing with ground vehicles, aircraft wanting an airways clearance, aircraft wanting to taxi and the aircraft on final, if he dies the only aircraft that can’t just wait around are the couple on final. As for vacating the runway, you think we land without briefing an expected exit? We just get off by the most efficient exit, we don’t need someone to hold our hand every step of the way. Is operating somewhere like SFO with no controller a good idea? Of course not, but if there is one controller and he has a heart attack, the aircraft on finals will land with no problem, and once they realize no ones talking to them they’ll be letting approach know pretty quick. If the preceding aircraft is still on the runway then the following just goes around, same with vehicles on the runway. This incident notwithstanding, it is normally easy enough to see if the runway is a, a runway, and b, clear.