Birmingham sounds like a good reason NOT to have private facilities within the full airspace system. A tower I can see, they do indeed only worry about the airfield. But any unit working radar should be concerned with not just the airport that they are serving but ALL aircraft within the system. Now, this is NOT a cut at the controllers that work at Birmingham. This is about the system that they are forced to work with.
I know that someone came on here and told us about what happens at Birmingham from the controllers perspective. It appears to me that if this is a normal occurance then they are indeed understaffed to work with everyone flying within the system. A countries airspace is a national treasure and shouldn't be limited by local or regional dictates. The National Airspace of any country should operate seamlessly for the benefit of all...
As to the pilots retorts that no one should ever sound curt on frequency. You're right, in a perfect world we wouldn't. We wouldn't raise our voices to our spouses, children or pets either. But you know, we all have stressers on us at different times and it does happen. Sometimes the matter of a fact straight prhaseology does sound curt and unfriendly. When you are stressed and busy, you aren't worrying about being friendly. You are worried about keeping the traffic picture and keeping people from coming to a poor demise. This on top of dealing every day with people who also consider themselves professionals yet seem to be unable to talk or fly as such from time to time. It is yet another stressor. Throw in the mix of GA who are doing the best they can ( and normally are doing a splendid job ) but not always understanding what is being required of them due to the lack of education... It is sometimes just a bit more than one can take after a few hours... It takes it toll. We sometimes get a bit tense or snooty. It comes from frustration from time to time...
I could go a bit further with all of this, but you get the point. The majority of pilots out there are doing the right thing. But there are those out there due to either thinking that they know what they need to know and don't get further education or those who just haven't been in the system long enough to really understand all that they need to know, and those who never were given all that they needed to know due to being instructed by another baby instructor whose ink on the teaching certificate is still wet...
later
Scott H. Voigt
NATCA Southwest Region
Safety and Technology Chairman