Photo By Staff Sgt. Austin Harvill | Airman 1st Class Sean Harrell, 1st Operations Support Squadron air traffic control...... read more read more
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HAMPTON, Va. - The air traffic control tower was silent as the pilot nervously reported losing sight of his wingman. As soon as the report came through, the tower airmen sprang into action, quickly working toward a solution. They relaxed and cleared their minds before calmly instructing the pilots in order to avoid a collision.
Despite adrenaline pumping through their veins, they directed the pilots without questioning their decisions, or allowing their emotions show. With the crisis averted, the pilots safely continued their mission.
The emergency was over as fast as it came, but the air traffic controllers knew another crisis could happen at any moment, and their work was far from over.
Controllers are responsible for regulating the safe, orderly and expeditious movement of air traffic, but their duties encompass a wide array of quick-decision situations.
"It's a demanding career that requires rapid decision making and three-dimensional thinking" said Senior Master Sgt. Trevor Browning, 1st Operations Support Squadron chief controller. "Every day brings a new challenge."
Not only are the controllers tasked with the everyday operations of managing air traffic, but they frequently react to emergency situations which often have lives in danger, sometimes on a daily basis.
"Air traffic controllers have to have the mentality to handle emergency situations and everyday operations simultaneously," said Master Sgt. Anthony Accoo, 1st OSS assistant-chief controller. "When an emergency occurs, we have to know how to react."
With the possibility of the smallest mistake ending in a death, the stress of that responsibility could be enough to wear any person out, especially when coupled with the everyday duties of an airman.
Even with the responsibilities air traffic controllers hold every day, they often view it as normal as checking an email.
"Stress levels are different to us than they may seem to someone on the outside," said Accoo with a smile. "You don't always have control over your day-to-day personal life, but once you get into position all those personal problems are put out of mind."
Controllers go through extensive training to ensure they are ready to shoulder their daily responsibilities, and are ready to make critical decisions on a moment's notice.
A controller's training starts much like any other airman fresh out of basic training, at their technical training school located at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss. Their training lasts roughly four months, and introduces airmen to the foundation of their career field.
The air traffic controller course teaches airmen basic principles of regulating air traffic, and the specific phraseology that is necessary for every controller to know fluently. The course also simulates the environment and scenarios the airmen will face as rated controllers, under the watchful eyes of their instructors. The course is designed not only teach the fundamentals of their career field, but also to ensure all students are able handle and react to stressful situations on the job.
Once the airmen graduate technical training, after many long nights of studying, they earn the title of air traffic control apprentice, but they are far from becoming a fully-rated air traffic controller.
Once the graduates arrive at their first duty stations, they must continue their education with on-the-job training that can take between eight months and a year to complete, depending on the base. During the extended training airmen are expected to learn material broken into four sections that cover all necessary information a controller will need to preform effectively.
The sections include the frontload, local, ground and flight data modules, with each broken down further into two blocks. The frontload module covers general information of the career field, while the local, ground and flight data modules all cover a specific job a controller will be required to perform while in the tower.
During the extensive training, the apprentices study their material eight hours a day, even eating lunch while pouring over their work.
Airman 1st class Lyndsey Kenefick, an air traffic controller apprentice with the 1st OSS, spends her days studying for her official rating, the day every apprentice eagerly looks forward to.
"Taking an hour-long lunch is not an option," said Kenefick. "Any less than a full day of studying is not enough."
When not studying, the apprentices are taken into a simulation room where they can practice real-world scenarios, without the stress of a possible incident. Rated trainers devise simulations to test the apprentices' ability to think on their toes, and react to a realistic emergency situation.
Although the simulations are close to reality, Kenenfick said they cannot compare to the realization that while in the tower, lives are on the line.
Once an apprentice completes all four sections, they are ready to take the exam to be rated. The exam consists of a written portion covering all the material since the beginning of technical training, and a practical portion under the supervision of rated controllers.
Even once a controller is rated, the learning process is never over. The Federal Aviation Administration's laws, and the Air Force's instructions and regulations that govern the way the controllers do their job are always changing. Controllers are required to arrive 15 minutes prior to every shift to receive a brief on current conditions and any updated regulations.
"The only constant in being an air traffic controller is change," said Browning with a laugh.
When a controller changes stations, they are all required to retest for their rating. The test consists of the general regulations and instructions, as well as the base-specific information. If a controller fails this test they are "washed out" of their career field, regardless of rank.
Even with the extensive, on-going training controllers keep up to date with, there are times when nothing can be done.
Accoo solemnly recalled a time when he was the last person to speak to a pilot who was killed in a crash due to an aircraft malfunction.
"If you make a mistake, lives are put in danger," said Accoo. "But, there are times that even when everything goes right, things can go terribly wrong."
The key to continuing, said Accoo, is to remember there are other pilots who need to be taken care of, and brought home safely.
Controllers are put into tightly knit crews are designed to work cohesively and effectively together, based on each member's strengths and weaknesses. The crews work together every shift to ensure pilots are always in capable hands.
"We look out for each other," said Accoo proudly. "It only takes one chink in the armor to cause a catastrophe."
Even with the high demands placed on the controllers, each one is proud of the support they contribute.
"There is nothing I would rather do," said Accoo. "It's amazing to contribute to missions that might be read about in history books one day."
Throughout Air Force history, the tell-tale sound of planes roaring by has invoked a kind of reverence for pilots, but also the realization that their flights would not be possible without the service, attention to detail and commitment to excellence air traffic controllers, like the ones here at the 1st OSS, provide.
| Date Taken: | 06.06.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 06.11.2012 13:33 |
| Story ID: | 89774 |
| Location: | HAMPTON, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 87 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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