Famous ATCOs
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Famous ATCOs
Actually more or less my first post here, BRGDS everyone.
Did you know that Alan Sillitoe (writer, ("The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner") used to be an ATCO in the late 40s?
Have you heard of anyone else?
Did you know that Alan Sillitoe (writer, ("The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner") used to be an ATCO in the late 40s?
Have you heard of anyone else?
Didn't Arthur C Clarke work on GCA during WW2?
Ohcirrej
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Yes rather poor taste, but so was asking for "infamous" ATCO's in the first place. Was this not the answer you were expecting Jerricho ?
You ever heard the expression "tongue in cheek"? I'll give you a hint lobby........see the smiley known as "evil grin". I can think of several ATCOs that, should their name be mentioned in aviation circles, many a wry grin would follow (DirtyPierre being one
)(Thank you, you've just killed what could have been a very good thread)
Last edited by Jerricho; 3rd Mar 2005 at 21:08.
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Hey Jerricho,
Let's kick it back into life again, then!
I'll start off with Dick Barnby, who was at Gatwick in the 50s/60s. Apparently he used to live on the South Side and ring up every morning to check on the traffic before walking across the runway to get to the old Tower....
...until the mornng of some rather Low Vis, when he got some duff gen and nearly got wiped out by an arrival out of the mist!
I believe that he made is way round the perimeter after that.
If the name Barnby is familiar, then you will have heard of his son, Tim. Apart from being British National Aerobatic Champion, Tim was the pilot who successfully landed the 'one leg up' Virgin A340 at LHR a couple of years ago.
Famous son of a famous father.
Cheers,
TheOddOne
Let's kick it back into life again, then!
I'll start off with Dick Barnby, who was at Gatwick in the 50s/60s. Apparently he used to live on the South Side and ring up every morning to check on the traffic before walking across the runway to get to the old Tower....
...until the mornng of some rather Low Vis, when he got some duff gen and nearly got wiped out by an arrival out of the mist!
I believe that he made is way round the perimeter after that.
If the name Barnby is familiar, then you will have heard of his son, Tim. Apart from being British National Aerobatic Champion, Tim was the pilot who successfully landed the 'one leg up' Virgin A340 at LHR a couple of years ago.
Famous son of a famous father.
Cheers,
TheOddOne
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Wry grin......maybe, but definitely not famous.
Jerricho and Tobzalb's father is way more famous than me. After all it's not every controller who has the Bright display radar screen in front of him suddenly explode! Was that in the 70s Tobzalp?
No famous controllers here in Oz. We try to keep a low profile
Jerricho and Tobzalb's father is way more famous than me. After all it's not every controller who has the Bright display radar screen in front of him suddenly explode! Was that in the 70s Tobzalp?
No famous controllers here in Oz. We try to keep a low profile
Ohcirrej
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I think it was around the mid 80's DP. I remember I was still at school. We saw the photos of it, and RR was picking glass out of his hair and ears for days afterwards.
Then of course, there is the famous "phone conversation" he had with his mother-in-law
.
AND prizes for guessing the name of another certain YBBN approach controller who nearly got arrested for running up and down the beach at 2:00am butt naked during Schoolies Week 1990 (no relation to us!).
Then of course, there is the famous "phone conversation" he had with his mother-in-law
.AND prizes for guessing the name of another certain YBBN approach controller who nearly got arrested for running up and down the beach at 2:00am butt naked during Schoolies Week 1990 (no relation to us!).
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Jerricho would know a certain infamous controller who was in charge of teaching all of us how to (not) be controllers. She was renowned for many things, but white t-shirt, no underwear, and water, all combined to create an image etched on all our young, and at the time uncorrupted minds.
Or then there was the 2 guys who worked in Melbourne tower, who got divorced and subsequently married each others wives. Yet at the start of each shift they would swap sandwiches, as they each still preferred their ex-wives sangers.
Or then there is the certain CENCO who would duck out of the ops room each night shift to counsel a certain Flight data. From the sounds coming from the counselling room she had been a very naughty girl.
Or then there is the infamous gentleman who would only use one kind of chair, one kind of pen, persisted with using a headset without a bungee cord on it, and used to make U/S (unserviceable) alert noises and spin on his old brown chair, at 4 am every morning of a night shift. I miss you Jooky.
God I could go on forever but I'd probably get sued.
Or then there was the 2 guys who worked in Melbourne tower, who got divorced and subsequently married each others wives. Yet at the start of each shift they would swap sandwiches, as they each still preferred their ex-wives sangers.
Or then there is the certain CENCO who would duck out of the ops room each night shift to counsel a certain Flight data. From the sounds coming from the counselling room she had been a very naughty girl.
Or then there is the infamous gentleman who would only use one kind of chair, one kind of pen, persisted with using a headset without a bungee cord on it, and used to make U/S (unserviceable) alert noises and spin on his old brown chair, at 4 am every morning of a night shift. I miss you Jooky.
God I could go on forever but I'd probably get sued.
I'm Just A Lawnmower
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I've thought of one - Judith Chisolm.
She was a controller in the seventies before she left to go flying bizjets. Some of the older ones amongst you might remember her round the world flight in a Cessna Centurion in 1980. It broke some record at the time, was featured in some paper or other (The Express?) and she had a TV programme made about her which, if I rememebr rightly, filmed her in the bath.
In ATC terms, however, she was famous, nay, notorious for other reasons. For those of you based in the UK, ask some of the older controllers at your unit for details...
Alas, Judith died of cancer a few years after her round the world trip. If the rumours about her were only half true, she crammed more into her short life than most of us would manage in three or four long ones.
She was a controller in the seventies before she left to go flying bizjets. Some of the older ones amongst you might remember her round the world flight in a Cessna Centurion in 1980. It broke some record at the time, was featured in some paper or other (The Express?) and she had a TV programme made about her which, if I rememebr rightly, filmed her in the bath.
In ATC terms, however, she was famous, nay, notorious for other reasons. For those of you based in the UK, ask some of the older controllers at your unit for details...
Alas, Judith died of cancer a few years after her round the world trip. If the rumours about her were only half true, she crammed more into her short life than most of us would manage in three or four long ones.