who are the best controllers in the world and the worst ?
Ohcirrej
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It was a movie HD and had something to do with a musical instrument and.......
"The one that does his job and separates you from the other aircraft. He's a regular prick, that one is"
Feeling guilty?
To my knowledge, haven't received less than appropriate separation from the ones who gave me shortcuts either.
Feeling guilty?
To my knowledge, haven't received less than appropriate separation from the ones who gave me shortcuts either.
Join Date: Apr 2001
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this one time, on Controller Camp, this guy told a manager to stick a headset
"Camel suits are the new black" re: baggage handlers. The best line ever on 'prune.
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JFK ATCOs sound like they need to have their wits about them a fair bit...............
http://home.online.no/~chainly/JFKGround.mp3
http://home.online.no/~chainly/JFKGround.mp3
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I can't get the JFK link to work, but if it is the same one that was sent to me a few weeks ago, the guy while entertaining was a moron. He spent so much time trying to act smart he never bothered to get the traffic picture. At one stage he asks two Jet blue aircraft in the same transmission "which of you Jet Blue aircraft is ....(I can't remember the exact question, irrelevant really)" and is actually surprised when he gets a double transmission in reply. Crap R/T from this controller and whilst busy yes, I hope you don't consider his performance as an example of worlds best controlling.
Flying into LAX last year and there were CB's everywhere and everyone was diverting all over the shop on a busy Sunday evening at the end of a holiday weekend, and listening to the frequency on my United Flight, the guy working that traffic was calm cool and collected, and just got the job done with out being a smart arse (he didn't once say "you should come up here one day and see how great we are", whereas that JFK guy didn't stop stroking his ego the whole time). Now he was a contender for worlds best controller.
Worlds best controllers in my opinion come from all units all over the world and they are the guys who do the job with the minimum of fuss, know when they can provide an extra service to the aircraft, and more importantly know when they can't, are professional on the R/T at all times, and no matter the **** storm that is surrounding them, sound as though everything is A-OK. (For the record unfortunately I'm not one of them as I get too emotionally involved at times and have been known to lose my cool at a moron pilot or two, thus disqualifying me from the title race of Worlds Best Controller).
So in answer to the question I think every unit in the world has some worlds best controllers (and every unit also has their fair share of Muppets unfortunately), and it is unfair to try and say one place is better than another. We all work with the traffic we get as best we can, busy or quiet, complex or simple, radar or procedural, tower, approach or area.
Flying into LAX last year and there were CB's everywhere and everyone was diverting all over the shop on a busy Sunday evening at the end of a holiday weekend, and listening to the frequency on my United Flight, the guy working that traffic was calm cool and collected, and just got the job done with out being a smart arse (he didn't once say "you should come up here one day and see how great we are", whereas that JFK guy didn't stop stroking his ego the whole time). Now he was a contender for worlds best controller.
Worlds best controllers in my opinion come from all units all over the world and they are the guys who do the job with the minimum of fuss, know when they can provide an extra service to the aircraft, and more importantly know when they can't, are professional on the R/T at all times, and no matter the **** storm that is surrounding them, sound as though everything is A-OK. (For the record unfortunately I'm not one of them as I get too emotionally involved at times and have been known to lose my cool at a moron pilot or two, thus disqualifying me from the title race of Worlds Best Controller).
So in answer to the question I think every unit in the world has some worlds best controllers (and every unit also has their fair share of Muppets unfortunately), and it is unfair to try and say one place is better than another. We all work with the traffic we get as best we can, busy or quiet, complex or simple, radar or procedural, tower, approach or area.
Only half a speed-brake
A-NS-A: I'm so wet behind the ears that the recording does not even sound funny to me. 
I witnessed an impressive trick flying a certain charter leg in between Bucuresti and Luxembourg. Our NAV department did not probably have enough time to fine tune the routing for that day. Approaching Salzburg I realised that flying westerly through Switzerland to France and up north to LUX did not seem like the shortest of options. But who am I to judge CDR2/3 FUA. Transferred to Munich, we inquired and later went via Karlsruhe / The German Corner. I must have had blushed when I needed them to spell a waypoint name later on, which turned to be IAF to LUX, some 400 NM away.
Not only did they manage to shave 15 minutes off our remaing 65' flying time, but taking an A/C out of one country's airspace, putting it direct to another country's airspace while avoiding the whole of Switzerland during the process left me speachless for quite some time.
Needless to say, I feel the most exquisite work is never appreciated by us just because we do not realise. Which surely is the icing on top.
Thanks,
FD (the un-real)
I witnessed an impressive trick flying a certain charter leg in between Bucuresti and Luxembourg. Our NAV department did not probably have enough time to fine tune the routing for that day. Approaching Salzburg I realised that flying westerly through Switzerland to France and up north to LUX did not seem like the shortest of options. But who am I to judge CDR2/3 FUA. Transferred to Munich, we inquired and later went via Karlsruhe / The German Corner. I must have had blushed when I needed them to spell a waypoint name later on, which turned to be IAF to LUX, some 400 NM away.
Not only did they manage to shave 15 minutes off our remaing 65' flying time, but taking an A/C out of one country's airspace, putting it direct to another country's airspace while avoiding the whole of Switzerland during the process left me speachless for quite some time.
Needless to say, I feel the most exquisite work is never appreciated by us just because we do not realise. Which surely is the icing on top.
Thanks,
FD (the un-real)
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From AirNoServicesAustralia
Very well put and a sentiment that I wholeheartedly agree with.
Well said that man
Best rgds
BEX
So in answer to the question I think every unit in the world has some worlds best controllers (and every unit also has their fair share of Muppets unfortunately), and it is unfair to try and say one place is better than another. We all work with the traffic we get as best we can, busy or quiet, complex or simple, radar or procedural, tower, approach or area.
Well said that man
Best rgds
BEX
niknak
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He ****** up - the trouble is, instead of getting on with sorting it out, he concentrated on finding someone to blame instead of finding a way out of the hole.
Let that be a lesson to all....
Let that be a lesson to all....
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This is a very subjective question, and I'd have to experience ATC in every country of the world to give a worth-while opinion. Having said that, the best controllers are those who seem to have a GOOD appreciation of what it takes to operate an aircraft from the pilot's stand-point, leading to a degree of flexibility that is required when operating aircraft, and if that be so, the Brits and the Australians win hands down.
The Americans are good, damned good, but seem to be either far too rigid, or at the opposite extreme of far too "do it any damned way you want", which worries me.
If flexibility and rigidity resulting from a good understanding of what it takes to operate an aircraft, and rigidly enforce their own requirements with little thought for operational implications, the Indians win as the worst. (Guess who has an up-coming tour of duty in India?).
Regards,
Old Smokey
The Americans are good, damned good, but seem to be either far too rigid, or at the opposite extreme of far too "do it any damned way you want", which worries me.
If flexibility and rigidity resulting from a good understanding of what it takes to operate an aircraft, and rigidly enforce their own requirements with little thought for operational implications, the Indians win as the worst. (Guess who has an up-coming tour of duty in India?).
Regards,
Old Smokey
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Good reply there Shags
I think the best analogy I can come up with for all this is a referee/umpire in a sporting contest. Be it football (in all its forms), gridiron (sorry even though I like it it aint football when only 2 guys on each team are allowed to use their foot on the ball), hockey whatever, the best umpire/referee is the one that as a player or spectator you hardly notice is there. Everything goes smoothly but you aren't talking about the referees performance at the bar later.
Same thing goes for both pilots and ATCO's. If the pilots are talking about their mortgage, sports car or bit of fluff in Bangkok and not about that moron controller who "asked me to reduce to 250 kts whilst also telling me to expedite descent", then the ATCO's have done their job. Similairly if the ATCO's are at the bar talking about their mortgage, sports car or bit of fluff who works at the bar round the corner from work and not about the moron pilot who " asked for higher level even though I had told him he was cleared to an interim level due crossing" then the pilots have done their job.
The name of the game is getting aircraft from A to B in one piece with the minimum of delay. If we can do that with the least amount of fuss and bluster from both sides, we have all done our job well.