Hehe, had it several times that controlers were not there. Excuses being..

In the toilet
Out to lunch
Sleeping
Simply not there
Running the little shop next to the tower.
Radio not working.
Sleeping off the big new years party.

Solution has always been to "buzz" the field, checking runway and winds and transmiting like it was an unmaned airfield.

The low pass usually got them up on the air. :E

Usually followed by frantic transmitting "Aircraft overhead, aircraft overhead!!!!"

:}

This happens from time to time... bet the controller won't do it again though!

In a responsible ATC unit, the last controller on duty would have stayed on until relieved surely?

Who Is Really At Fault?
 

Amen, manrow. Did the previous controller just walk away when his/her relief did not show? He/she is the one who should be disciplined. :mad:

Could be that the previous controller locked up the tower the night before. I do dimly recall waiting for an AFIS operator to return from his lunch break on an even smaller island airport.

Oversleeping Is Not The Issue
 

Zooker, the issue is not oversleeping. The issue is why the previous controller left without a relief. :ugh:

not 24H
 

LGMT is not open 24H.

For those that don't understand this:

* nightshift goes home-locks up

* tower closed

* morningshift comes in-opens up

* tower open

There should be some sort of back-up system in place in cases like these, and maybe there was one, but didn't work, but then again, this is Greece...siga siga!:ok:

Well said klm-md11
Do people out there really imagine that all airports are open 24hrs?
LGMT does not have a lot of movements even during the day, thus the number of ATC staff is limited.
It's happened before, and it'll happen again. I was on the flight deck of a PIA flight many years ago, commencing descent into Tirana (Albania). Despite Belgrade calling them on the landline and numerous calls over the radio, they did not respond. The captain did a low pass, and one by one the lights started to come on. It seems that the transport to take the staff home (no private cars allowed in those days) had not turned up, so they had decided to have a party in the tower, and overslept. Mind you it was 0530!

This is not only one controller's fault, this is an airport's operations failure.
LGMT is not a huge station, all are paid to be at their positions, 1 hour before the first arrival. and they ended up, the ACC in Athens inform by phone the airport director at his home, that they were missing the controller, with flights already holding overhead. And the excuses they present are on the border of ridiculous.

It's been said in one or two ways, but here's the simple fact;

No ATC comms, airfield unlicensed.

Unlicensed airfield, no Air Transport operations.

Without communications, how would the pilot know if the CFR service of the required Cat is available? That's only one of a zillion reasons why the only option is to hold while trying to establish communication, and divert when necessary if that cannot be done.

Insurance?

It's not an emergency situation, unless and until there is insufficient fuel to divert to an open, licensed airfield with the correct CFR Cat available.

OKC was absolutely right. But it's not just a "professional" course of action to choose to divert in those circumstances, ie no ATC Comms. There is no other option.

Dealing with Greek ATC System always called for some tolerance and flexibility.

But it also works the other way round.

Some year ago we were on our way to Paros island. Last Charter Flight of the year thus no pax on the leg to Greece enabled us to top up the tanks. Together with a strong tailwind it became clear in the air that we would make it into Paros without the usual en route fuel stop.

Problem: Paros would not be open yet at the new ETA. So we called Athens and asked them for help. Athens called Paros ATC an airport authorities at their homes and told us that it had been arranged to open the airport 3 h earlier.

Of course landing 3h before schedule left us waiting for pax. So ATC closed the airport again and joined us for a late brakfeast into Paros village

It happens!
 

A few years ago I was working as the weather observer on duty, strategically located in the tower cab, right next to the controller at a controlled airport. Early in the morning, massive CAVOK.
The controller didn't arrive in time -- someone had slashed the tires of his car and he had to find a cab first. He phoned me just in time when a certain dark-blue/yellow low-cost B737-800 arrived precisely on time -- they always do. :rolleyes: I contacted the radar unit, and they put them in the holding pattern. Controller arrived about 20 minutes late. Aircraft landed 15 minutes late. No problem.

Had to lend him a lot of Euros so he could pay the cabbie.

Controlled field --> no controller in place --> no-one to say "Cleared to land" --> no landings and take-offs. None at all, neither IFR nor VFR. :ok:

Good man! It would be too easy to call in sick, but this guy didn't. He told the truth! I admire this man's integrity. Shame other professions appear to have so little.

PM

I have been to Lesbos many times before and I must say that the lesbians are very nice people indeed.

Happens everywhere...
 

Happened at BLK not so long ago, only kept morning deps on ground as apposed to holding arrivals...........Quite like Lesbos is BLK, full of lesbians and queer folk:rolleyes::rolleyes:

Rgds
The Moss:ok:

This is Insane
 

This is insane. What happens if someone in the vicinity has an emergency and needs to land ASAP? Do they turn off the NAVAIDS at night too? What a crock. :mad:

Wow, now there's something I didn't know before.

Every single airport in the USA stays open 24/7, no matter how small and how little traffic, with full CFR cover in case someone "in the vicinity" has an emergency. Presumably that would be up to Cat 9, or maybe just the Cat probably needed for the runway capability?

And I guess "vicinity" is within 100 miles or so. Not far, is it, at jet speeds? Perhaps 200, just to be on the safe side.

We learn something every day on pprune.

We're not talking about an FBO, or are we? I thought we were talking about government officials abandoning an airfield which presumably has an IFR capability. Surely ICAO rules prohibit this. :ugh: