Apologies Phileas, I (wrongly) assumed you were a pilot.
UDT,
No, I had a proper job, or jobs
Yes, you are right, when one is alert and on the ball then one can react to a given situation better than when it is quiet but surely that is why pilots are put thru a simulator bi-annually, to give them those unexpected situations, are Air Traffic personnel not put through such checks?
I've done it, emergency situations both in a tower and from a radar unit, at Eastern Radar our primary customer was the USAF ... I could write a book and whenever we may have gone on the "lash" to Lakenheath or Mildenhall we quite often found our beers being bought for us