4/3/12

A Matter Of Time

There is an old Arab proverb: "Man fears time, but time fears the pyramids." Personally, I don't think either of us has anything to be afraid of. Time always wins. The pyramids are shrinking and will one day be gone without a trace. It just takes time. As for man? I guess I'd be more fearful of time coming to a stop than I would of it marching on past that "moment." What moment? Well, it might have happened when someone placed the last stone on a pyramid or the last stitch in the fabric of a biplane. It was the moment we actually believed we had reached the apex of an endeavor. 

Fortunately, time does pass, evolution creeps onward and new ideas make the old ones obsolete. Without that forward movement,we might still be building pyramids and plying the skies in biplanes. But just imagine how the guy in this biplane must have felt as he cruised past the great pyramids of Giza. He'd reached the apex. He was on top of the world ~ or so he thought. Everything goes obsolete and comes to an end ~ whether it's the the plains of Giza, the planes of modern aviation or just plain old people. They'll all vanish. It's just a matter of time.
There were days in life when I wished it could go on forever. Everything. But somehow the passage of time brings an awakening; an insight heretofore unavailable. Just as we may have to pick our way through miles of rock to reach the gold; we might have to pick our way through many years to reach the understanding that nothing lasts forever, nor should it.

But there is one thing that, for me, remains timeless. That would be my love of all things aviation. It seems to have been with me forever, but when did it begin? I don't think I could turn my clock back far enough to find out. It was long before I would call myself a pilot or an air traffic controller. It was many years before I'd reached the first of several dead-ends in my life. Perhaps you can recall that day when your sky got a lot bigger and the world got a little smaller. Although I can't remember when it began for me, I do remember when it really took off. . .
I finally landed that FAA controller job I'd been waiting for. Everything was coming together! I could feel it ~ especially after the long years when everything seemed to be coming apart. These were the high times of forward momentum, fueled by surging self-confidence and optimism. I was gaining speed, checking off my career goals and only looking back to marvel at the distance I'd covered. How naive I was. As time passed, I should have been savvy enough to be looking out for those who were running up behind me with swords, scimitars or who knows; maybe even shish kabob skewers. But all that turmoil and treachery wouldn't catch up with me till much later. In the beginning though, it was all about air traffic control and the people I knew who made it happen. We had common goals, common adversaries and were so close that you couldn't have held a dollar bill between us.

I was lucky to have worked with the best there were ~ in every sense of the word. One of the key parts of the job was the teamwork it required. As anyone who's worked at it knows, air traffic control (ATC) can't be done alone. It's not a solo venture. The most successful shifts were the ones where you went home shaking your head and thinking about the controllers who helped get you through it. If, on the other hand, you headed home feeling like you personally just knocked one into the bleachers, you may have actually struck out. I don't know but I hope today's ATC game is still played that way.

A superior shift was made of many individual successes that, when added up, amounted to an illusion of effortlessness. It took an artist who also knew the magic and could do the trick. For example; tweaking airspeeds and issuing a few artful vectors to fit an extra aircraft into the approach sequence, where there didn't really seem to be enough room, could take pressure off the holding patterns. A center controller who accepted early handoffs so the departures didn't have to stop climbing was ultimately helping the tower keep the departure queue moving. The Local Controller who didn't complain about a tight arrival interval and, in fact, got the departures out in spite of it made for happy approach controllers. If you could just watch such things, without ever hearing the radio transmissions or interphone calls necessary to make it work, you might think it was easy. But this wasn't the "pulling rabbits out of hats" kind of trick.

Watching the controllers who could do the magic was always a treat. The only thing better was learning how to do it myself.

Of course there were also times of defeat and discouragement but we all have them, don't we? Anyway, I was cocksure those times wouldn't last and, somehow, they never did. Besides, there were usually more things to learn from a single setback than there was from a single success. I guess I always tended to analyze my failures more closely than I did my victories. As an air traffic controller, it kept me fairly busy. Still, life on the boards challenged, sustained and satisfied me for many years. Then, one day, I must have experienced that "moment" referred to earlier. I felt an urgency, like I was late for an important appointment. I needed to move on ~ but where to? Was I really embarking on a career path or was this more like pinball, where I'd simply bounce and bump around until someone yelled "Tilt!" and the sign said "Game Over?" Only time would tell.

I have to say though; moving on in this material world took me, far too quickly, through many situations where I should have lingered longer and enjoyed more. At the time, I guess I didn't want to be stuck there forever. One place I should have stayed at least a little longer was among the controller workforce. I still remember what Pete, our Area Manager, said when I told him I was thinking of bidding on a staff job. "Why the shit do you want to do that? You've already got the best job in the Agency!" He was right, of course. Later that day, he banished me to our most intricate radar sector to train our most argumentative developmental. Pete had a peculiar style. It was okay though. I needed a fresh headache and it actually helped me make up my mind about that staff job.

Whenever I reflect on my days of working traffic, even with those inherent headaches, it still gives me a good feeling. I'd run out of adjectives before I could adequately describe it. But I moved on because it was time and there was an opportunity. You know what they say; "Time waits for no man?" Well I can tell you now that opportunity is far less patient.

Moving on, I found that staff and Management work wasn't nearly as gratifying as any of those "superior" shifts I completed as a controller. So, what else is new? Like I said earlier, the passage of time brings an awakening. The facts were that a controller could get something pivotal, propitious or profitable done in moments. Instant gratification. Meanwhile, over in the gladiator arena euphemistically referred to as Management, self-actualization remained illusive. Whenever I finally got something significant accomplished, it could have taken weeks, months or even years. Oh, and this was when I became aware of those guys at my back with the swords and such. Again, I began thinking there were more important things to do elsewhere. I hoped there'd at least be a less duplicitous bunch of people. I was ready to move beyond another of those moments in time.
So anyway ~ life is good and yours should last as long as you want it to. But one of many things I learned is that life, spacious and special as it is, should not go on without end. Immortality is a fool's dream. The ceaseless cycle of good times and bad taught me that immortality would simply mean being stuck here forever. Talk about a fate worse than death. Fortunately, we'll all move on one day. At the moment, I'm far from ready. But it's just a matter of time.

© NLA Factor, 2012

8 comments:

AC2usn said...

I like you enjoyed a long term operational plan of where will the traffic and sequence be five minutes from now. This resulted in many emotional ups and downs as the team worked through the give and take of the ebbs and flows of controlling the traffic in the airspace.

The because the rewards offered for staff service are so very small the competition for these crumbs is brutal. The perceived up front cost to move from a controller position to a staff position is the fact that the individual changes retirement plans. This is too a big hurtle for many to jump over. The lost retirement flexibility prior to age fifty five is far out weighted by the benefit of working until one chooses to retire. You are observant to the project process and that the completion of a given task is rare and far between.

Anonymous said...

Another great post. I know exactly what you mean about going home after a good night of teamwork. Put the right people on the right positions with a couple of supes that had a clue and things would just hum. But toss in one human pothole and all of a suddent the shift could feel like a week long...

No Longer a Factor said...

Thanks to “Anonymous” and “AC2usn” for writing. Getting comments on this Blog is always a surprise. I’m especially happy to hear from folks who are or were in the ATC business.

To Anonymous – I like the “human pothole” metaphor. It’s the perfect way to describe a few controllers and Supervisors I worked with over the years. You also make an excellent point about putting the right people on key positions when the chips are down. I know it wasn’t necessarily fair to always put the strongest controllers on the busiest positions while the weaker ones got to coast for a while - but it was the best way to run a shift. It was also no surprise that the strongest controllers never complained over the arrangement. They were happiest when they were busy.

Always good hearing from AC2usn. I know the rules regarding staff positions have changed since I retired. When I made the leap, the biggest hurdle was having to accept a smaller paycheck. Gone was the night differential, Sunday and holiday pay enjoyed by shift workers. Of course that turned out to be the smallest sacrifice when compared to other issues associated with staff work. Although the work was important, job satisfaction was generally low. Also low was the level of trust that former coworkers had in anyone moving into staff/management positions.

The biggest change for me though, was the loss of a team approach to things. Whether in Data Systems, Training, Procedures or Quality Assurance – everyone worked in their own little world. Sure; they called it a “Management team” but it wasn’t. It was no more a team than the stone mason, plumber, carpenter and electrician who arrive together at a construction site every day, then head off in different directions to work alone. Each department had its own skills, agendas, priorities and outside contacts. If one department was struggling, the others may never have known or cared. It wasn’t their problem. There was no interdependence like there was between a team of controllers who had to pull together to keep from being swamped by a stormy shift.

Thanks again for writing, you two!

Cheers,
NLA Factor

getjets said...

Hello Mr NLA.........
'Time' certainly does 'march on'.........,
like you say!!!!!!
the worry...about how much 'time'
do you have to get it right...I say Quit trying
to get it right the 'next time....'!!

I set my clock 30 minutes ahead.......
kinda makes me feel at any...
given 'time'...
if I have to reset..
I have a credit of the 30 minutes to perhaps...
get that 30 minutes right the second go around(Yes pun).....
silly of course!!

and worrying about the how much 'time' you have left....
well......
takes up a lot of 'time'
as well.....
certain events..
burn themselves in your memory......I personally for starters...
remember the 'time'..and place I was......
When the
Pan Am flight crashed
taking off from New Orleans....
I was on the night shift running an N/C ....
July 9,1982...flight headed for Las Vegas..never finished
take-off....
wind shear..I believe.......
like it was yesterday!

while at any given time......
looking back.....
at what has past in each of our lives....
and assess the sum total
of what and who we are........maybe
we should not be so hard on ourselves.....

your alive right NOW.....
must have done something RIGHT!!!!!!

Your love of all things Aviation.....can't find the beginning.....
probably never was a beginning
so to speak......
As my Love of Aviaiton as well......

Thank you for sharing.....
your experiences...!!!!!!!!


Now get back to living in the present...;))

funny how some days can drag on forever.....while the
last 20 year were gone in the 'blink of an eye'......

MissTWA

not to mention how much time
I took up babbling....here...
TIME WELL SPENT...!!!!!!

No Longer a Factor said...

Great hearing from Miss TWA! It's unfortunate but major aviation accidents seem to have turned into mile markers along my career path. Eastern Flight 401 in the Everglades, Air Florida Flight 90 at the 14th St. bridge in DC, Delta Flight 191 at DFW and so many others all remind me of where I was when. The good news is that I was never involved in one of the big ones.

Our time is best spent in the here and now, so enjoy it. Yhanks for writing!

Cheers,
NLA Factor

getjets said...

Your Welcome....Mr. Factor.....!!!


last weekend I saw the show...
"Air Disaster's"...
subject was the DFW....
Delta crash...listening the ATC/Pilot exchanges was difficult..!!!!

Shame....it usually takes something to go terribly wrong...
and lives taken.....to save.....others...

MissTWA

Anonymous said...

Another website that will keep you busy for a while...

http://www.rwf2000.com/ATC

No Longer a Factor said...

To Anonymous - thanks for reading and for passing on the web link. I checked it out and you are right. It'll keep me busy reading and remembering. Thanks again

Cheers,
NLA Factor