Bad day at the office! ATC at JFK :eek:

This guy sounds flustered, confused, short tempered, didn’t know one aircraft couldn’t follow another because there were another two planes between them…

I absolutely agree Paul, and I certainly don’t mean to give the impression that I am in any way defending the guy. I just don’t imagine for one second I could do any better, so I won’t knock the guy. But I do take your point.

1L.

The lighting system at LHR (follow the greens) is used at night or during the day when the viz is less than 1000m.

The system is easy to follow from a flight crew point of view, however it requires us, the ATCOs, to co-ordinate constantly with our lighting operators to set up the correct routes, so actually increases our workload.

Listening to those JFK clips make me cringe. If that sort of thing was happening at LHR, the ATCO concerned would be in the sim pretty sharpish for remedial training!

Probably unfair to comment on whether he’s coping or not, as to the best of my knowledge none of us have proved we can do any better

That isn’t the point. Not even remotely. ‘None of us’ who have commented are professional controllers at one of the worlds largest airports. That is what this guy gets paid to do, and I strongly believe if you can’t handle what you’re doing, you shouldn’t be doing it. That goes for any job, and believe me, I’ve seen hundreds of examples of people like this in music over the last 12 years.

This guy sounds flustered, confused, short tempered, didn’t know one aircraft couldn’t follow another because there were another two planes between them…

I realise you’re probably trying to defend your industry colleague, which is perfectly understandable as you work in the industry. Not many of us do, but I don’t think there’s any doubting the obvious in that recording, and the obvious being he is not handling his duties particularly well!

Very interesting you say how simple things are at LHR though. I never realised things happened (at least some of the time) quite so smoothly there!

Paul

Probably one of the only few pleasant experiences @ LHR right?? :p

Pretty much.

1L.

Probably unfair to comment on whether he’s coping or not, as to the best of my knowledge none of us have proved we can do any better, but it certainly makes you realise how simple the LHR ‘follow the greens’ system is by comparison.

I sat on the flightdeck for landing today and our taxi instructions as we left the runway were “follow the greens, stand 176.”

Probably one of the only few pleasant experiences @ LHR right?? :p

Probably just a typical New Yorker.. most of ’em have a fairly gruff grandiloquent persona

Probably unfair to comment on whether he’s coping or not, as to the best of my knowledge none of us have proved we can do any better, but it certainly makes you realise how simple the LHR ‘follow the greens’ system is by comparison.

I sat on the flightdeck for landing today and our taxi instructions as we left the runway were “follow the greens, stand 176.”

1L.

Disagree, New Yorker had an extremely long fuse otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to cope as well as he did.

Disagree! 🙂 It doesn’t sound like he’s coping well at all, but controlling is his job and he gets paid to do it. If he can’t handle his responsibilities and other people it in a reasonable way (which it certainly doesn’t sound like he is doing), he shouldn’t be there!

Paul

It’s no wonder our gruff New Yorker friend has such a short fuse having to control all those movements and be an interpreter at the same time

Disagree, New Yorker had an extremely long fuse otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to cope as well as he did. Only ten minutes of that tape made me exhausted, how about an hour of that? Pass me the pills.

Well done to the author for giving a map to see where the action was taking placed. I thought it would help seeing the map but with all the Jet Blues i got confused too – credit to him.

At least in Flight Sim they have a big red flight number floating above the plane!

I would have expected a better level of english from international crews operating to such a big airport….

It’s no wonder our gruff New Yorker friend has such a short fuse having to control all those movements and be an interpreter at the same time

I think that this comment from the controller sums both of the clips up really: “you’re where doing what short of who?”… that made me laugh

First clip is great fun a late friday night. Must say I’m quite surprised to hear about the chinese pilots skills in english…

Nevertheless, I think that ATC should avoid sarcasms such as could be heard about the construction work. A crisp and simple answer would be more appropriate (and professional).

Regards,
Cliff

It’s certainly not an unsual attitude from the second bloke, known for his short temper and intolerance. However JFK has some of the friendlest controllers though, as well as him.:(

Some classic comments in that second one.

I love the “You guys should come up here one day” comment.

And just to top all the commosion off the JetBlue 179 comment about seeing the controller at the duty free.

I haven’t stopped laughing!

The second one reminds me of one of those puzzles, you know the ones, the 11 piece jigsaws in 12 square little frame, and you have to get it in the right order by slidding each piece into the empty square you have. Hilarious, though I’m sure its not an infrequent occurance at airports like JFK.

Hmm… Nothing like coming across as an absolute professional is there?! 😀

Paul

I have to say, I love the comment about the A340-600 😀

That second one is an absolute classic.

My word! I know its a stressful job, but thats just incredible!