Air Traffic Control ... Or Lack Thereof

By Erik Minty, Staff Pilot

Air Traffic Controllers, it seems, appear to pilots in two very distinct flavours. There's the friendly, cheerful, eager to help flavour, and there's the what side of the bed did you get up on this morning variety. I guess stress brings out the best and the worst in people. But why are controllers so stressed out (any more than your typical ENSC student)? Some would claim the answer is really simple: VFR pilots. One controller I once knew expressed this sentiment quite clearly I thought: "I hate, oh God I really hate VFR pilots!"

Oh, oops. Sorry. VFR? Right. For those of you who missed my "I Follow Roads" story, or weren't really paying attention, VFR is the kind of flying you learn first. You have to follow all kinds of rules, but in general these involve the need to stay out of the clouds and maintain a visual reference to the ground. This is because, if you're not trained in instrument flying, flying through clouds is just asking for the kind of trouble that involves running into things such as other aircraft, the ground, or that very solid eleventh cloud type, "cumulus granitis." A very popular variety of cloud in B.C. to be sure.

So back to the question, why do controllers hate VFR pilots so much? I think it's a case of the few that make the rest look bad. Many VFR pilots are recreational flyers or novices, and mostly non-professional (often unprofessional). Certain skills and knowledge that are accepted by controllers and other professional types in aviation sometimes elude the recreational pilot. Here's an example of a conversation that actually took place between an "itinerant" aircraft and a tower controller at Victoria, while I was practicing circuits (paraphrased because it happened a long time ago and for dramatic purposes too):

"Uh, tower, this is ..." (I don't remember his registration) "I'd like to overfly your airport at, oh, about 3000 feet, I'm enroute to" (a pause) "Campbell River." It almost sounded like a question.

"Negative, this is a controlled airport, you'll have to go around the control zone at this time, we have heavy traffic on two active runways. Have you cleared customs yet sir?" The "November" prefix on his ident had identified the aircraft as a U.S. registration.

"Aaah ... customs? I was not aware of that."

"All right, you'll have to land here and clear customs. There is no customs at Campbell River. Do you have a flight plan active?"

"A flight plan? Well, no, I ... no I don't."

"All right, sir, join the traffic pattern for runway 09, you're number seven behind the blue Cessna currently midfield downwind. Do you have a visual?" He wasn't kidding about the heavy traffic. There were already six of us practicing circuits, with another taking off. And on runway 13, there was a Dash-8 on short final, with another that had just taken off a few minutes before and likely more coming.

"This is Victoria Tower, what is your present status? Do you have the blue Cessna in view?"

"Aaah ... no." (There was a pause.) "Actually, I'm right over your airport here," (I could almost hear the sound of a controller passing out right there) "and I don't see any runways numbered nine. From here, it looks like they're all numbered eleven!"

I gave my instructor a quizzical look. He frowned for a second, then burst out in hysterics. Then I clued in. "He's looking at the runway touchdown markers, isn't he?" We laughed about that one for days.

I think the reason why controllers often get so upset at inexperienced pilots is that despite their job title, they really in fact have very little actual control over what you as the pilot decide to do. They can give you the best directions possible, and even tell you that you have to follow them, but if you then proceed to fly right over an active runway and stare down a Dash-8 that's approaching to land, they can't really stop you. The best analogy I can think of is trying to be a parent to a six-year-old from behind a plate glass window. I once knew a controller who happened to also be a one-time commercial pilot. Every once in a while, he was called on to talk down some poor schmo who had flown up through a hole in the clouds that then closed up on him. This is especially bad when you have no instrument flying skills. I wonder quite literally how many lives this particular controller saved that way.

I once thought that I would like to try a career as an Air Traffic Controller, because I couldn't imagine anything more gratifying than being in a position to help another pilot in distress. I changed my mind, though, because I thought that engineering would be not only more rewarding, but less stressful. Don't laugh, it's true.

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