tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1488244694314662923.post7487694887785550493..comments2023-11-21T16:39:25.075-05:00Comments on What The Air Traffic Controller Saw: Persistence Of Memory, Part IIUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1488244694314662923.post-46996912655171704662015-10-10T15:43:40.097-04:002015-10-10T15:43:40.097-04:00Kevin - Moving into a new facility is pretty traum...Kevin - Moving into a new facility is pretty traumatic, even if everything works perfectly. Fear of the unknown, I guess. Back in the 80s, when we were about to move out of our 1950's vintage tower and TRACON, we were all competing to come up with the winning worst case scenario. Some may well have been somewhat disappointed that the cut-over was nearly flawless. As I always made a point of getting to know the Airway Facilities technicians, I felt pretty confident in their ability to pull this thing off. <br /><br />Your frustration over the United Captain's self-aggrandizing rudeness was a perfect example of why I wrote of airline pilots how we "occasionally wished we could shake them by their collars till the little gold wings fell off their uniforms" in my "Like It Or Not" post. In fairness though; I suppose we all have those unpredictable moments of the old "Its all about me." syndrome. Had some and, I'm sure, there'll be more to come.<br /><br />Whether your management actually followed up with United Airlines or not depends. Whenever we controllers had problems with a particular flight; the level of followup depended on who was working the Watch Desk. We could tell the pilot to "Call the Watch Supervisor when you land." Sometimes we got feedback on those calls and sometimes we didn't. In your case, I'll bet the flight's cockpit voice recorder was erased before that plane arrived at its gate. And without your facility's tapes to back your story up? It never happened. <br /><br />Thanks for the kind words at the end of your last comment. As one who posts to your blog frequently, you may, like me, have those days when the right words just don't come out. That's when I'll walk away for a day, week or even a month before going back to try finishing the piece. Sometimes it works and sometimes I end up settling for "good enough." It's like eating at a very bad restaurant. You know the food wasn't so good but still; you're not hungry anymore.<br /><br />Cheers,<br />FactorNo Longer a Factorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15953669395261857717noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1488244694314662923.post-79932846595597813282015-10-09T23:56:59.879-04:002015-10-09T23:56:59.879-04:00As an aside to the Payne Stewart crash: We had jus...As an aside to the Payne Stewart crash: We had just moved into our new control room digs at Minneapolis Center the week of the crash. Just about everything was working as planned with the exception of a few glitches as would be expected. One of those glitches wouldn't be realized until they went to pull the tape of the United pilot who was giving me grief on frequency about a direct routing that I couldn't help her with. There would be no recording to pull because for whatever reason the equipment designated to record all of our transmissions wasn't operational. I believe a call was made to some uppity-ups at United and I would hope they conveyed our/my frustration with the pilot.<br /><br />I thought you did a fine job of painting a picture of the crash incident as you always do when helping us to get inside your thoughts. You have a gift for this my friend and I hope you find the time to share more and more of your memories with us while they're still fresh enough to recall. We're not getting any younger you know!<br />Kevin Gilmorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07689287179985777963noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1488244694314662923.post-25116865051651262872015-10-08T21:45:52.027-04:002015-10-08T21:45:52.027-04:00Hey Kevin! Good hearing from you and, no, I don&#...Hey Kevin! Good hearing from you and, no, I don't mind your link a bit. In fact; your link took me to a pretty interesting read. I had completely forgotten about the Payne Stewart incident. By 1999, I was just about four years away from retirement and working in the field as a representative to our regional office. When I heard about the crash, I could only wonder how it could have happened. For you though, it must have been an eerie experience. <br /><br />I never heard of such a thing like that happening; either before or after the Stewart tragedy - at least not in the world of civilian aviation. Hypoxia wasn't quite so uncommon in the military though; especially among the pilots of the old, Century series fighters. I controlled a bunch of them back in the 60s.<br /><br />The crash at "Big Time" was too close and left practically nothing to the imagination. The account I gave in my blog entry wasn't as full as I would have liked but maybe that's a good sign. Maybe I am finally beginning to forget some of the more disturbing details of my career. Got my fingers crossed.<br /><br />Talk later brother,<br />Factor <br /><br />No Longer a Factorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15953669395261857717noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1488244694314662923.post-29448657383083118262015-10-07T23:38:54.703-04:002015-10-07T23:38:54.703-04:00I worked in the dark room of a control center, hun...I worked in the dark room of a control center, hundreds of miles or more from the traffic I was working so I never personally witnessed the kind of image you describe here. The last one I worked of this magnitude was already determined before the plane ever entered my airspace: the flight of Payne Stewart and his crew.<br /><br />That the entire aircraft and its crew had perished hours earlier was accepted. Still, it was odd having the aircraft flying through my airspace knowing that at any moment it would fall out of the sky. Fuel exhaustion pinned that time to within 10 minutes of when it finally did fall. <br /><br />It's not something I ever dwell on; only when I read accounts such as this. If you don't mind, I'll link to a few of my more harrowing moments as a controller for you...<br /><br />http://onekgguy.blogspot.com/2009/03/stories-from-trenches.htmlKevin Gilmorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07689287179985777963noreply@blogger.com