By the way you never told me what happened when that controller broke his leg?
Any inbounds diverted - normal practice. Nothing on the ground moved. Safety ensured.
The only serious issue I think was the time it took to get an Ambulance out. Not an ATC isue but a simple workplace issue that can happen anywhere people work unaccompanied should an accident happen.
Had there been an ATSA or if even the cleaner had been present then even that would not have been an issue.
Like I said, the IAA licence the ATS units at Waterford, Kerry, Galway, Knock, Sligo and Donegal to provide combined Tower and Approach services with only 1 ATCO present. They have always operated on combined Tower and Approach with a single ATCO present. There is nothing new in that.
Trimming staff excess is not going to solve the problem but it would help when combined with recruitment of direct entry permanent staff not hindered as previous direct entries were, improving the number of ATCO's holding and using multiple validations eg get the Shannon APR people doing a bit more work and using training and admin ATCOs more in the operations side.
If the IAA agree to a 50% payrise and to recruit 100 controllers per year and put 5 controllers on every position......ATC by comittee for a collective ass covering exercise.......then I can guarantee that there will be no more disruption effective immediately.
Heck even if they only meet simple demands then there will not be any more disruption...........despite the fact that even direct entries trained as quickly as possible will not be operational and validated and part of the roster for months and months.
Is it a safety issue? No. Is it going to take years to solve - Yes. Will ATCOs once again sell their leave - Yes. Will they after all the shouting go back to doing overtime - Yes.
The IAA slander you
The press slander you
The public slander you
"Slander you" - verbosity - the act of not automatically believing exactly what is said by some posters. Easily counteracted by a question such as "Shannon Airforce One, are you sure you want an aircraft at our level at the same position?"
Tower to Osama????
You just have to laugh - and pay the user fees for the higher paid overtime
Regards,
DFC