Air Traffic Control Archives

The service delivered by some ATC facilities today is just not what it used to be in the old days before the PATCO strike. There, I said it.

Having been around in the old days — like the 70s – when traffic at most towers was insane by today’s standards, I think I have some solid data to measure against.

When I say service is not today what it used to be though, I don’t mean at the nation’s busy facilities. There’s no way controllers at JFK, ORD, ATL or LAX could push out as many airplanes per hour as they do unless they were operating with plenty of adrenalin in their system. Think shoot the gap, which translates into never wasting 60 seconds of airspace when you can put an airplane into it. Those kinds of results come from superb mentors teaching recruits how it’s done.

My focus here is on the less busy VFR towers, specifically the ones in the Chicago area where I still fly some 200 hours each year, airports like Chicago Executive (KPWK), Waukegan (KUGN), Kenosha (KENW) and DuPage (KDPA). Kenosha and Waukegan are contract towers run by a private company where the controllers are not NATCA members.

My gripe is that no one seems to be training these controllers how to move traffic … quickly. Sure being safe is important to the best ATC system in the world, but VFR towers should be delivering efficiency too.

I’ve been really touched by how many regular readers noticed that Jetwhine just turned one.

A year ago I had dinner with a buddy in Wichita who seriously questioned why I was trying to blend a little new media talk with the rest of the aviation world about well, anything.

The reason was simple.

I believed I had a 40-year perspective on the aviation industry that no one else did. I also thought I could thought I could say it like no one else, as some of you have taken me to task on over the past 12 months.

But that comes with the territory.

A year later, I think we’ve only begun with a little “Aviation Buzz and Bold Opinion.”

Whether it’s the FAA and user fees, the need to completely rebuild the way we pay the pilots who teach others to fly, the pilot shortage or the need to educate communities about the value of their airports, Jetwhine offers you a perspective on the industry you won’t read anywhere.

And we’ve asked nothing from you … until now that is.

Some of the things we talk about at Jetwhine evolve from the tips you send us, so keep those ideas coming.

But since blogs propagate based on the their popularity, won’t you please take a minute to pass the Jetwhine.com address on to your friends if you’ve enjoyed what you read here each week.

And ask them to pass Jetwhine on to their friends too.

So now where’s the cake?

Thanks,

Rob Mark

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Air Traffic Control: Over-Controlling

Thanks From Jetwhine