There’s two sides to consider with this story guys.. it’s not all it seems
JTobias is a personal helicopter pilot friend of mine and anybody who knows him, knows how utterly professional he is in the air and most pilots will never obtain the experience he already has. The articles do not portray the knowledgeable, skillful, generous and charitable man we all know. His personal success is unrelated and nobody’s business but he is undisputably professional there too and any suggestion otherwise is ludicrous.
His silence is merely because of the regulatory procedure pending as I am sure you can appreciate, that is his main priority and concern.
The case covers what was a 15-20 sec agitated incident with a controller which we’ve all had at one time or another, and by no means describes the professionalism he exhibits normally. He has had no problem whatsoever apologising and admitting what he did was out of character and wrong, but it happened. End of.
However, you should also understand that there was an unreported and significant run up to the ‘rant’ being sensationalised in the press, which inevitably lead to the nature of the call. There was absolutely no confliction with other aircraft either.. Blackpool isn’t exactly Gatwick!
The controller stated she was ‘shaken up’ which, if accurate, leads me to think that Blackpool is where her ATC career stops, and maybe the real world of ATC may be too stressful for her to cope with. She should try a bird-strike in a helicopter!
This is nothing more than a ‘speeding ticket and a ticking off’ by a copper in the air.. and if you saw the size of the infringement in inches you’d be shocked! But that doesn’t sell papers…!