rennaps
There was a civilian flight from Lybia to Dubai World. The UAE refused to accept the aircraft and further advised Doha that the aircraft had a fuel emergency. Following this information the Doha duty controller got the necessary approval from Doha military to accept the aircraft and brought the aircraft into Hamad Int.
Rumour has it the prime minister was upset that the aircraft was approved, he threw a tantrum and demanded that someone be fired. Since you can’t fire a Qatari, they had to find an expat. At first they wanted to fire the whole ATC shift but this was reduced to just the Duty controller. N.B. This was in spite of the Doha Military giving approval for the flight.
Doha is a complete mess. No accountability, Qatari controllers are always late and often don’t show up for shifts without prior notice.
Dip Clearances are an ever present minefield for controllers in the Mid East. The exceptions to this are the sensible nations of UAE and Oman.
Cheers
To infinity and beyond and, hopefully, back in time for a pint of Theakstons' Old Peculier