Originally Posted by
brain fade
Damn lucky they never killed a bunch of folk. Why did no ATCers speak up on the day for ***** sake?
Easy to say, but what do you expect the ATCO to do? When it comes to the crunch in a situation where you have voiced your opinion to your superiors that something doesnt seem right, but you do not have the specific knowledge to prove that it is patently not right, and your concerns are rebuffed in the belief that the people responsible know better.
Remember that without the added errors of the Excel crew, this incident would not have taken place. Its easy afterwards to say that the ATCOs should have done something, but without the benefit of this incident, concerns such as these are frequently brushed aside. It's one thing to feel uncomfortable with a situation, but its another entirely to be SURE that something is downright dangerous and needs to be stopped.
What do you really think is going to happen to an ATCO who makes the lonely decision to refuse to work in a situation like this, assuming that no incident actually occurs subsequently?
Firstly he will be replaced by someone who will do the job, so nothing acheived there unless the whole ATCO contingent follows his lead.
Secondly I expect he will then have to justify to management why he refused to provide a service/obey management instructions etc, against the evidence that the basic calculations of the runway closure in this case were correct, and correctly promulgated.
In this business it's really easy to earn a reputation for being difficult or a trouble maker, just because of tendency to not unquestioningly accept everything that management do. A reputation like that (even if a result of the best possible intentions) is likely to damage anyone's career prospects, cos we all know that you can't get on unless you toe the party line. So anyone with an ounce of ambition is going to face a very real conflict of interests in this situation.
I'm not saying it's right, far from it, but I'm saying that it is the reality, or equally importantly the perceived reality of the situation from an ATCO's point of view.