To the people pontificating on the incident at EGLL in 1997, this was a situation that was handled badly by at least one of the two ATCO's involved. From my point of view (and it's worth more than yours Jerricho
) ATCO's are trained from day one to expect the worse. We're asked "ok what would you do here?" by our instructors and when we answer they reply by throwing in the most unlikely emergency that they can think of. This is because we, as ATCOs and flight crew too, have to expect the worst. If you don't then when it comes, AND IT WILL, then it will bite you on the ass.
What has annoyed us is the protrayal of controllers as watching events unfurl, and the subsequent references on this very site to "pro active" controlling. Is there any other kind? We're paid to try and keep ahead of the game and if we think it's going wrong, for instance if Jerricho's on FIN, then we have to sort it out. It's not pro active anything, it's an obligation we have to the flying public and to ourselves. We're not arrogant, we're bloody well trained and good at our jobs as a result. Look at the UK's safety record compared with anywhere else.
The programme was made with minimal reference to real ATCO's. If it had have been, there would have been no programme. We could have told them what a stinking pile of sensationalist, fantasist, scare mongering tosh it was. All it has done is enraged an already struggling aviation community, amused drunk students and lined the pockets of people who should no better.
P7
Or even "know better".