Originally Posted by
Bbtengineer
Let me try this a different way. Do we want the controller out of their comfort zone?
I hope we can agree that we don’t want that. We don’t actually want a controller finding out on the job where their personal limits are.
So what seems to have happened here is a controller soft pedaling on an important but non-urgent request for LH. One that we would all hope and likely they do to that they could have accommodated, but they clearly felt unable.
What we are left with, in my view, is why is the controller so close to the edge of their envelope that they just cannot countenance accommodating this request more timely. That they will have or care to find a reason not to?
And then by consequence, what would it take to put them back into their comfort zone for when this situation inevitably arises again?
TL;DR what is required to fix it?
Finally. It all comes down to capacity, both of the controller and the airspace. It’s been well established this was a busy rush of scheduled planes so it will have been forecast on whatever traffic monitoring systems exist there.
Assuming Bbtengineer is on the right lines: Why was this controller put in a position where they had no capacity left to handle anything else? Factors that come into it: airspace, controllers personal capacity, training, expectation, staffing, airspace and procedure design. Was the position further splittable? If it was, were there enough staff to actually split it? Was there pressure on to power through and not split? Would the split actually have helped? What would have happened if there was an actual mayday in the middle of that? The NYT article did a good job of highlighting that US ATC are handling relatively, more planes than ever with fewer staff than ever. Is the airspace evolving to assist that, or are they just trying to cram as many planes into an already creaking system as possible?
After near on 400 comments we’ve gone round and round about
what happened, without ever getting any closer to
why it happened.