While pilots and air traffic controllers work with each other daily, perhaps we don’t often think about the nitty-gritty details and problem-solving taking place on the other side. When everything appears to be running smoothly, there’s nothing to worry about, right? If I’m your controller for the moment and tell you, “Proceed direct [FIX],” it’s […]

You’re feeling pretty good as you descend towards your destination airport. Under Center’s watch, you’ve just checked the latest ATIS, briefed the advertised approach to Runway 27, and you’ve got your avionics all set accordingly. Center switches you to Approach. Your check in with Approach ends with, “…and I’ve got information Charlie.” Approach responds, “Expect […]

It’s not fun trying to make a left turn out of my neighborhood. It exits onto a busy, six-lane road. There’s no traffic light, just a gap in the median. Cutting across steady traffic demands patience, timing, and good judgment. Mistakes can be costly. The asphalt is littered with shrapnel from cars whose owners tried […]

Beyond separating and sequencing aircraft, air traffic controllers are responsible for managing expectations. When I’m working traffic, I must ensure that what each pilot expects to be doing matches with what I expect him to be doing. Otherwise, it’s like trying to act out a play when all the actors are reading from different scripts. […]

You’re flying along, listening to a controller issue instructions to many aircraft. From one second to the next, you suddenly start hearing a different controller’s voice. You haven’t changed frequencies. They’re seemingly picking up where the first one left off. Controllers are used to hearing voice changes from an aircraft. Many times a day, I’ll […]

Believe it or not, air traffic controllers don’t issue radar vectors for amusement. I know it might seem like it when you’re getting strung out for a sequence or for traffic, watching the time-equals-money clock ticking away, increasing the costs of your flight. My goal as a controller is to get you on your own […]

Sequences don’t come much easier. A VFR Mooney and a VFR Cherokee both requested a practice RNAV approach. They were the same distance from the same initial approach fix (IAF), and the Mooney was 50 knots faster than the Cherokee. I gave the Mooney direct to the IAF. The slower Cherokee got a few vectors […]

Earning a pilot’s certificate involves more than just regurgitating book knowledge. A potential pilot must confidently apply that information in a variety of intense scenarios, while exercising good judgment. Air traffic controller training follows a similar path. Both can be long, grueling roads, and those who come out the other end with a certification can […]

When I was learning to fly, my instructor would say, “A good flight comes from good information.” Surprises in the cockpit aren’t generally good things. To avoid them, you absorb data, whether it’s a preflight weather brief, the information on the ATIS, or what your instruments are telling you. You take these disparate pieces and […]

Night had fallen outside my approach control. I was settling into my chair in the radar room when Center handed me a Cessna 172. Remarks showed it was an IFR training flight to one of our Class D satellite airports. I checked the time. That airport’s tower was closing momentarily. We routinely ran non-towered ops […]