I pretty closely follow ATC here in Southern California, I started doing it after TRACON began routinely shortcutting departures over our community (and then lied about it). I've been at it over ten years and have been pretty effective in holding them accountable.
In the last two years there has been a significant decline in quality. Some…
I pretty closely follow ATC here in Southern California, I started doing it after TRACON began routinely shortcutting departures over our community (and then lied about it). I've been at it over ten years and have been pretty effective in holding them accountable.
In the last two years there has been a significant decline in quality. Some controllers don't seem to understand the intricacies of So Cal airspace, deviate from established routes randomly and for no good reason, and have many more aircraft separation issues. There are specific periods where it is just awful, likely due to a subpar controller or inadequate staffing and supervision. Sometimes it seems like they are winging it.
It's pretty clear controller quality has fallen off drastically for whatever the reason. There's going to be a disaster, it's just a matter if time.
I have a friend who was in ATC (he's now retired) in Aurora/Chicago and also worked Oshkosh during their air show - very busy arenas. He says he will no longer fly because the folks running ATC now are just a disaster waiting to happen. And when the system (people and processes mainly, but the IT ain't great either) breaks, it will take many years to rebuild correctly.
Yup, people don't realize how busy the airspace is over major metro areas, it's an incredibly complex system. It's has been generally safe because smart, thoughtful, and experienced people worked out a systemic method to maintain aircraft separation. These are documented in standard, published procedures (SIDs, STARs, etc.).
Add to that controllers that understood the system and recognized the importance of adhering to it unless required to deviate for an unforeseen situation. ATC also understood that in an urgent situation they were expected to use sound judgement regarding if/when to deviate. Pilots count on that consistency and judgement, and became accustomed to it, and it was why they usually don't second guess controllers. Their instructions were akin to the word of God.
That seems to be falling apart as some controllers have lost that process-oriented approach that worked so well for decades. I suspect it's a combination of lower intelligence candidates, lacksidasical attitude toward processes, poor institutional memory, and just lousy decision making under stress. Things are done a certain way for a reason, they can't just be cast aside because an individual doesn't see the immediate relevance. OTOH, a controller must be smart enough to recognize when a procedure isn't right for an urgent situation and act accordingly.
It's not a job for dummies, people with poor decision making skills, and immature emotional control. As with any complex system, managing it takes intelligence and skill. Those people don't grow on trees though, despite the desires of those who wish away reality.
And layer on top of the ATC issues...it is a ‘government agency’ and they likely were mandated to get the EUA mRNA Jabs...and you would have to been living out in the desert under rock for the past two years, to not be aware of that one of the myriad of ‘side effects’ of these Jabs, is a serious decline in people’s cognitive processing, their ability to take in information and respond accordingly...their brains are seriously on a ‘delay’ and not ‘firing properly’. Have you heard of the word ‘vaxxidents’ as an example? They just don’t have what was commonly referred to as ‘situational awareness’ any longer. (Well maybe some people surely never had SA, pre Jabs, but now it is rampant.)
Oh yes it has. For further information, consult the link(s) given perhaps using an anonymous PC, maybe that of your coworker you hate, when he's on lunch. Caution: very controversial issues at this web site: Racists, Anti-Semites, White Nationalists, oh my!
Thanks, Doorknob; those stories give me the chills. Glad I have no reason that I feel I must fly anywhere. Reminds me of a comment my friend made once, about how you choose your surgeon but not your anesthesiologist, even though both hold your life in their hands. We don't exactly choose our commercial pilots, but we often don't even think about our air traffic controllers.
There's an old saying, "don't tear down a fence until you know why it was built". We are tearing down fences everywhere, at an increasingly reckless rate.
Each time I fly out of/into OHell I feel like I am heading into rush hour traffic, in the sky. There are so many aircraft swirling above that place, I am in awe there are not more disasters.
I pretty closely follow ATC here in Southern California, I started doing it after TRACON began routinely shortcutting departures over our community (and then lied about it). I've been at it over ten years and have been pretty effective in holding them accountable.
In the last two years there has been a significant decline in quality. Some controllers don't seem to understand the intricacies of So Cal airspace, deviate from established routes randomly and for no good reason, and have many more aircraft separation issues. There are specific periods where it is just awful, likely due to a subpar controller or inadequate staffing and supervision. Sometimes it seems like they are winging it.
It's pretty clear controller quality has fallen off drastically for whatever the reason. There's going to be a disaster, it's just a matter if time.
Edit: typos
I have a friend who was in ATC (he's now retired) in Aurora/Chicago and also worked Oshkosh during their air show - very busy arenas. He says he will no longer fly because the folks running ATC now are just a disaster waiting to happen. And when the system (people and processes mainly, but the IT ain't great either) breaks, it will take many years to rebuild correctly.
Yup, people don't realize how busy the airspace is over major metro areas, it's an incredibly complex system. It's has been generally safe because smart, thoughtful, and experienced people worked out a systemic method to maintain aircraft separation. These are documented in standard, published procedures (SIDs, STARs, etc.).
Add to that controllers that understood the system and recognized the importance of adhering to it unless required to deviate for an unforeseen situation. ATC also understood that in an urgent situation they were expected to use sound judgement regarding if/when to deviate. Pilots count on that consistency and judgement, and became accustomed to it, and it was why they usually don't second guess controllers. Their instructions were akin to the word of God.
That seems to be falling apart as some controllers have lost that process-oriented approach that worked so well for decades. I suspect it's a combination of lower intelligence candidates, lacksidasical attitude toward processes, poor institutional memory, and just lousy decision making under stress. Things are done a certain way for a reason, they can't just be cast aside because an individual doesn't see the immediate relevance. OTOH, a controller must be smart enough to recognize when a procedure isn't right for an urgent situation and act accordingly.
It's not a job for dummies, people with poor decision making skills, and immature emotional control. As with any complex system, managing it takes intelligence and skill. Those people don't grow on trees though, despite the desires of those who wish away reality.
And layer on top of the ATC issues...it is a ‘government agency’ and they likely were mandated to get the EUA mRNA Jabs...and you would have to been living out in the desert under rock for the past two years, to not be aware of that one of the myriad of ‘side effects’ of these Jabs, is a serious decline in people’s cognitive processing, their ability to take in information and respond accordingly...their brains are seriously on a ‘delay’ and not ‘firing properly’. Have you heard of the word ‘vaxxidents’ as an example? They just don’t have what was commonly referred to as ‘situational awareness’ any longer. (Well maybe some people surely never had SA, pre Jabs, but now it is rampant.)
DEI? Hard to believe that has not creeped into ATC hiring.
Oh yes it has. For further information, consult the link(s) given perhaps using an anonymous PC, maybe that of your coworker you hate, when he's on lunch. Caution: very controversial issues at this web site: Racists, Anti-Semites, White Nationalists, oh my!
https://www.unz.com/isteve/die-in-the-air/
https://www.unz.com/jtaylor/think-twice-before-you-fly/
Thanks, Doorknob; those stories give me the chills. Glad I have no reason that I feel I must fly anywhere. Reminds me of a comment my friend made once, about how you choose your surgeon but not your anesthesiologist, even though both hold your life in their hands. We don't exactly choose our commercial pilots, but we often don't even think about our air traffic controllers.
There's an old saying, "don't tear down a fence until you know why it was built". We are tearing down fences everywhere, at an increasingly reckless rate.
Each time I fly out of/into OHell I feel like I am heading into rush hour traffic, in the sky. There are so many aircraft swirling above that place, I am in awe there are not more disasters.