Zone Infringements
I overheard an interesting conversation on the airwaves a few days ago.
Chappie in a helicopter asks for a direct routing from point A to point B when asked for point of origin and destination. ATCO notes his message and he trundles on his way. A few minutes later the ATCO calls him up and informs him that he has clipped the edge of the Zone. He apologises profusely and the ATCO basically says no problem we were watching you on radar and there was no conflict. Great methinks, error pointed out in friendly manner, apologies made, lesson learned, happy ending to story.
Wrong. Two or three minutes later, extremely agitated Senior ATCO gets on radio and proceeds to tear into the helo pilot and spends a good three or four minutes berating him while a succession of 737's and 757's are waiting to get a word in edgewise on a busy frequency. Why did he bother? I've heard that this is not the first time that this has happened. Not a problem for me but I'm sure it is a concern for the people flying for a living who have to fanny around while this chap vents his spleen.
Any comments peeps?