do controllers feel inadequate?
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"Hence any retard can be a controller"
Not true. You said it yourself, there is a selection process with some major aptitude testing and training. Pilots just need a rich father to get a licence.
Not true. You said it yourself, there is a selection process with some major aptitude testing and training. Pilots just need a rich father to get a licence.
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Of course most pilots in reality do not have a rich father........in fact alot of pilots suffer great hardship to pay for their licence.
The refreashing thing about talking to pilots, is that the majority of them are very passionate about their job.
Controllers tend not to be.......how can you get excited about driving blips around a screen in a dark room. They get their licence on a plate compared to alot of pilots, and their motivation for doing the job is very different.
I'd say 50% of controllers are in it for the money, 45% are in it for the power trip......the remaning 5% are in it for the love of it. It's quite dissapointing really.
The refreashing thing about talking to pilots, is that the majority of them are very passionate about their job.
Controllers tend not to be.......how can you get excited about driving blips around a screen in a dark room. They get their licence on a plate compared to alot of pilots, and their motivation for doing the job is very different.
I'd say 50% of controllers are in it for the money, 45% are in it for the power trip......the remaning 5% are in it for the love of it. It's quite dissapointing really.
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Booke23 ,
I have to disagree with the majority of your post.
The majority of ATCOs and certainly those who post on here are passionate about their work. You only have to look at the posts about do you like your job and would you do it again.
In it for money, well you can get a lot better paid work with half the hassle.
Pilots passionate about their jobs, well I think they probably fall into very similar categories to most ATCOs, I know so many ( most of my friends are aircrew) some days they have a good day others they have a bad one, but in the main like the majority of us they wouldn't want to do anything else.
Are we arrogant, well if we didn't have that degree of arrogance I don't think we could do the job we do.
Do I feel inadequate ? yeah right
I have to disagree with the majority of your post.
The majority of ATCOs and certainly those who post on here are passionate about their work. You only have to look at the posts about do you like your job and would you do it again.
In it for money, well you can get a lot better paid work with half the hassle.
Pilots passionate about their jobs, well I think they probably fall into very similar categories to most ATCOs, I know so many ( most of my friends are aircrew) some days they have a good day others they have a bad one, but in the main like the majority of us they wouldn't want to do anything else.
Are we arrogant, well if we didn't have that degree of arrogance I don't think we could do the job we do.
Do I feel inadequate ? yeah right
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booke23
Like flower, I would strongly disagree on your take on ATCOs motivation. Or at least I do for the moment. What worries me about the direction the profession is currently taking (at least in my little corner) is that new recruits approach it as 'driving blips around a screen' albeit in not-so-dark rooms. I find it disquieting ..... or maybe I'm just getting old!
Like flower, I would strongly disagree on your take on ATCOs motivation. Or at least I do for the moment. What worries me about the direction the profession is currently taking (at least in my little corner) is that new recruits approach it as 'driving blips around a screen' albeit in not-so-dark rooms. I find it disquieting ..... or maybe I'm just getting old!
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Book;
30 years ago I would have said yes, I would have missed the charm. Today probably not, considering the lack of profesionalism on the RT and the constant non concern for anyone else in the air except for themselves. I've actually been told when advising an aircrew unable on a request to move the the other traffic? <sigh> I see it as a dumbing down of all of aviation and I tire of it. I still take the time to work as an Aviation Safety Counselor and teach classes to airman about airmanship and the use of the National Airspace System. The good news is that there are still those out there who do have a passion for it and it shows, it however is becoming a minority and it is quite a shame.
Oh as to controllers only having 5% who show for just a paycheck. I would suspect that you haven't shown up in an ATC facility very much, nor if you did, stuck around to actually spend time with the ATCO's instead of the suits...
regards
Scott
30 years ago I would have said yes, I would have missed the charm. Today probably not, considering the lack of profesionalism on the RT and the constant non concern for anyone else in the air except for themselves. I've actually been told when advising an aircrew unable on a request to move the the other traffic? <sigh> I see it as a dumbing down of all of aviation and I tire of it. I still take the time to work as an Aviation Safety Counselor and teach classes to airman about airmanship and the use of the National Airspace System. The good news is that there are still those out there who do have a passion for it and it shows, it however is becoming a minority and it is quite a shame.
Oh as to controllers only having 5% who show for just a paycheck. I would suspect that you haven't shown up in an ATC facility very much, nor if you did, stuck around to actually spend time with the ATCO's instead of the suits...
regards
Scott
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Lets face it boys. You ATCO types are all frustrated pilots. Once upon a time they let you do a PPL but nowadays.... shucks thats far too expensive. So stay in your chairs with your coffee. It's much safer!
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brain fade
"Lets face it boys. You ATCO types are all frustrated pilots"
In your dreams my friend
. Had the pleasure of a jump seat ride to Dublin and Skavsta earlier this year. Great day out, extremely informative and a couple of very professional, engaging gentlemen to boot. Would I want to do four sector days like that for a living? Not on your life. For those "frustrated " pilots amongst us there is ample opportunity to relieve the frustration. The unit at which I'm based includes guys engaged in a spectrum of flying activities including microlights, gliding, classic aircraft formation flying, aerobatics, Citation operation and helicopter operations in the Arctic.
But then again, in some quarters, real flying only consists of multiple jets and then mostly in a straight line.
"Lets face it boys. You ATCO types are all frustrated pilots"
In your dreams my friend
. Had the pleasure of a jump seat ride to Dublin and Skavsta earlier this year. Great day out, extremely informative and a couple of very professional, engaging gentlemen to boot. Would I want to do four sector days like that for a living? Not on your life. For those "frustrated " pilots amongst us there is ample opportunity to relieve the frustration. The unit at which I'm based includes guys engaged in a spectrum of flying activities including microlights, gliding, classic aircraft formation flying, aerobatics, Citation operation and helicopter operations in the Arctic.But then again, in some quarters, real flying only consists of multiple jets and then mostly in a straight line.
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Frustrated Pilot?
No. But I deal with (what sounds to be) many of them every day. And that is before they suffer my vectors and speed control! Many they must be really pissed off when they spend their 25 minutes on the tarmac and then launch back the way they came only to hear my voice again!
Do I miss flying in crap weather with crappier passengers for crappy money? Sometimes. Thats why I have my own aircraft that I fly in great weather, with a great passenger, when and where I want to.
Frustrated pilot? No sir.
But I sure know a few.
No. But I deal with (what sounds to be) many of them every day. And that is before they suffer my vectors and speed control! Many they must be really pissed off when they spend their 25 minutes on the tarmac and then launch back the way they came only to hear my voice again!
Do I miss flying in crap weather with crappier passengers for crappy money? Sometimes. Thats why I have my own aircraft that I fly in great weather, with a great passenger, when and where I want to.
Frustrated pilot? No sir.
But I sure know a few.
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Maybe they have the right to be arrogant both pilots and controllers. For without controllers there would be no pilots because they would all be dead because of mid air's, but without pilots there would be no planes and in turn no jobs for controllers. They each hold each other up in a large level of responsibility.
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Sorry about that wind up post chaps
Tell you what tho', there ain't any pilots who really really wish they were air traffickers!
Personally I'd rather be a drug trafficker!
Tell you what tho', there ain't any pilots who really really wish they were air traffickers!Personally I'd rather be a drug trafficker!
Ohcirrej
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Tell you what tho', there ain't any pilots who really really wish they were air traffickers!
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Radar,
as someone who's done most of the flying you mention before I retired to the airlines I'd only mention that it may be much easier doing this type of flying, but one day every year or so I reckon I earn EVERY CENT - all for just that one flight.
the rest of the time it's coffee and Bullsh*t.
the chaps in terminal control areas seem to have those days EVERY day. bugger that for a game of soldiers. No thanks.
D.R.
as someone who's done most of the flying you mention before I retired to the airlines I'd only mention that it may be much easier doing this type of flying, but one day every year or so I reckon I earn EVERY CENT - all for just that one flight.
the rest of the time it's coffee and Bullsh*t.
the chaps in terminal control areas seem to have those days EVERY day. bugger that for a game of soldiers. No thanks.
D.R.
Avoid imitations
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As a pilot I personally find no reason to feel either feel inadequate or superior to an ATCO.
ATCOs do their job, I do mine. Sometimes their job is easier than mine, sometimes not, especially bearing in mind that I have only one aircraft to deal with, whilst sometimes they have many. I try to do my job to the best of my professional ability, without making theirs more difficult. We are all trying to achieve the same thing at the end of the day, namely to move aircraft safely from A to B, are we not?
Arrogant folk exist in all professions and trades. Some of them feel the need to slag off others, possibly to bolster their own feelings of self worth and to overcome their underlying sense of inadequacy.
I find the best defence is to have the inner confidence to turn away and avoid arrogant people without getting involved in any argument. They usually aren't worth more than a shrug of the shoulders.
ATCOs do their job, I do mine. Sometimes their job is easier than mine, sometimes not, especially bearing in mind that I have only one aircraft to deal with, whilst sometimes they have many. I try to do my job to the best of my professional ability, without making theirs more difficult. We are all trying to achieve the same thing at the end of the day, namely to move aircraft safely from A to B, are we not?
Arrogant folk exist in all professions and trades. Some of them feel the need to slag off others, possibly to bolster their own feelings of self worth and to overcome their underlying sense of inadequacy.
I find the best defence is to have the inner confidence to turn away and avoid arrogant people without getting involved in any argument. They usually aren't worth more than a shrug of the shoulders.