Hi MHA
I was just trying to get across the extremes that 'by the book' can be taken to. It wasnt anything personal, more me playing devil's advocate to get a point across. And it was probably wrong of me, I apologise.
We do understand that pilot workload is high during certain phases of flight. we are not all heartless bast@@ds, despite what pilots think
I haev a slightly different outlook to most where I work, mainly because I have a much different ATC background. I spent 7 years working Heathrow Approach, SVFR & Thames Radar before joining the Macquarie Sectors down here.
There is enough ill-will inside Airservices, so trying to keep relations with airlines/pilots/GA etc good is hard work. Pilots may not be aware just how short of staff we are. Regularly one controller is covering from surface to FL600 in airspace stretching from Sydney to Coffs Harbour. We have to work an 8-9 hour shift with just one or two 10min breaks(upto 10days straight and only 8-10hours between shifts), and from 7pm until 5am there is normally only one rated controller on-site for the sectors. When we are combined we have 6 frequencies covering g,e,c&a airspace and also military C with fastjets causing havoc. And we will be 5 controller shorter come the end of the year on our sectors alone. This is why we get scratchy sometimes - we are knackered