Good reply there Shags
Thanks Figgy
I think the best analogy I can come up with for all this is a referee/umpire in a sporting contest. Be it football (in all its forms), gridiron (sorry even though I like it it aint football when only 2 guys on each team are allowed to use their foot on the ball), hockey whatever, the best umpire/referee is the one that as a player or spectator you hardly notice is there. Everything goes smoothly but you aren't talking about the referees performance at the bar later.
Same thing goes for both pilots and ATCO's. If the pilots are talking about their mortgage, sports car or bit of fluff in Bangkok and not about that moron controller who "asked me to reduce to 250 kts whilst also telling me to expedite descent", then the ATCO's have done their job. Similairly if the ATCO's are at the bar talking about their mortgage, sports car or bit of fluff who works at the bar round the corner from work and not about the moron pilot who " asked for higher level even though I had told him he was cleared to an interim level due crossing" then the pilots have done their job.
The name of the game is getting aircraft from A to B in one piece with the minimum of delay. If we can do that with the least amount of fuss and bluster from both sides, we have all done our job well.
