馃攳
What It Takes To Be An Air Traffic Controller At The World's Busiest Airport - YouTube
Channel: Business Insider
[0]
[Music]
[0]
our dell 2452 container juliet mike to
[2]
lima charlie
[4]
monitor the tower 123.85 400 feet above
[7]
atlanta hartsfield airport
[9]
air traffic controllers oversee the
[10]
skies of the world's busiest airport
[13]
firing off commands to pilots delta 393
[16]
atlanta ground runway two seven right
[17]
text via lima hold short attacks away
[19]
dixie they juggle
[20]
2600 landings and departures a day in
[23]
all kinds of weather
[24]
you can go upstairs and you can look out
[25]
of that window and you can see nothing
[27]
at all
[28]
and still have movement taking place on
[30]
your airport
[31]
but air traffic controllers can't mess
[33]
up not only are lives on the line but
[36]
this is the ultimate in domino effects
[38]
if something's going wrong in atlanta or
[40]
if there are major delays it disrupts
[42]
air travel
[42]
all throughout the country and parts of
[44]
the world back in february before kobit
[47]
was named a pandemic
[48]
rally took us up inside the tallest
[50]
control tower in the country
[52]
to see what it really takes to be an air
[54]
traffic controller
[56]
this is atlanta hartsfield-jackson
[57]
international airport
[59]
and these are its five runways and
[61]
here's the control tower
[63]
it takes a rotating staff of 58 traffic
[66]
controllers to keep the airport running
[68]
pre-pandemic they directed 190 000
[71]
flights
[71]
through takeoff and landing each year
[74]
these controllers are responsible for
[75]
any planes inside atlanta hartsfield
[78]
airspace five miles out and four
[80]
thousand feet above the airport
[82]
once a plane enters atlanta's territory
[85]
air traffic controllers are in charge of
[86]
communicating with pilots over radio
[89]
they direct pilots in the air through
[90]
safe landings and pilots on the ground
[93]
through takeoffs the goal efficiency
[95]
efficiency efficiency what can you do to
[97]
help us be more efficient
[98]
well the one thing that we're not going
[100]
to do is make sure that you compromise
[102]
safety in that equation but the job
[104]
isn't easy
[105]
there's a lot of dynamic decisions if an
[107]
aircraft is coming into land
[109]
and they have to go around because of an
[111]
unstable approach
[112]
the weather didn't cooperate they
[113]
couldn't get the runway in sight you
[115]
have to be
[116]
ready to make a decision to become a
[118]
fully qualified controller
[119]
it can take up to five years of
[121]
classroom simulator and on-the-job
[123]
training
[124]
but if they make it the average
[126]
controller in georgia makes 145
[129]
000 a year a job in atlanta's tower is
[132]
one of the most coveted atc positions in
[134]
the u.s
[135]
candidates go through a rigorous hiring
[137]
process which can take
[139]
somewhere just under a year we're
[141]
getting closer to six to nine months
[143]
once they've been hired incoming
[145]
controllers start on the simulator
[147]
so any new controller that would come
[148]
here they would initially come here and
[150]
do book work and then
[151]
follow up with the book work they would
[152]
come in the simulated room a new
[154]
controller will do multiple pass-fail
[156]
scenarios
[156]
but on the simulator they'll have fewer
[158]
planes to juggle than the real deal in
[160]
the tower
[161]
then they'll have an evaluation and then
[162]
if they pass that evaluation they can
[164]
head up to the towers we have two
[166]
controllers working there today
[168]
one of them is in training there's never
[170]
really a slow period
[171]
to speak of though air traffic always
[174]
picks up in the summer and days before
[176]
and after holidays
[177]
but whether it's christmas eve or just
[179]
another tuesday
[180]
controllers have to stay focused i don't
[183]
know that
[184]
we want people to be comfortable we want
[185]
people to be on edge we want people to
[187]
be
[188]
at the top of their game controllers
[191]
have to remember and monitor
[192]
up to 30 planes at once that's a lot to
[195]
think about
[196]
especially since studies show the human
[198]
brain can only handle seven things in
[200]
short-term memory at a time
[202]
i had about 25 to 30 aircraft all on my
[204]
frequency
[205]
at one time they're all taxing out for
[206]
departure but once i said monitor the
[208]
tower 123.85
[210]
that's when they got off my frequency so
[211]
you know at one time you could have a
[213]
lot then one minute later it could be
[215]
all gone the job so mentally draining
[217]
that the federal aviation administration
[219]
allows controllers to work for only two
[221]
hours before they're required to take a
[223]
break
[224]
to help make their work easier
[226]
controllers jobs in the tower are highly
[228]
specific
[229]
each runway is assigned either takeoff
[231]
or landings
[232]
that controller is just focused on that
[234]
runway that specific runway and that
[236]
specific run
[236]
one way only the controller who clears
[239]
planes for takeoff or landing is called
[240]
the local controller
[242]
there are two or three of them in the
[244]
tower at once
[245]
this gentleman is working what we call
[247]
local five and local five is handling at
[249]
the moment
[250]
all the arrival aircraft coming in from
[252]
the east then there's the ground
[254]
controller
[254]
this guy focuses on directing traffic on
[256]
the ground telling planes which runway
[258]
to taxi to
[260]
so in the case of an approach and
[261]
landing it might start with the local
[263]
control saying this to the pilot
[265]
it'll be delta 222 runway 8 left wincom
[268]
clearland
[269]
we'll turn it over to the ground
[271]
controller as they exit
[273]
delta 222 contact ground 119.2
[276]
they'll go over to ground control ground
[278]
control will tell them which direction
[279]
to taxi
[280]
to get them over to the ramp controllers
[282]
have universal rules to follow to make
[284]
sure everyone is safe
[286]
first there's the lingo all right 1123
[288]
taxi ramp keep moving traffic behind you
[290]
have a good day
[291]
the international language for air
[292]
traffic control is english
[294]
they also have special terminology so no
[296]
two words will get confused
[298]
runway two civil rights follow southwest
[300]
the guys at chicago o'hare or pdk or
[303]
atlanta tower
[304]
say the same things for most of
[307]
our control instructions it doesn't
[309]
deviate and that consistency is what
[311]
helps us keep communications down to a
[313]
minimum
[313]
minimal talking is important because
[316]
every plane
[318]
and every controller our dell 2452 share
[320]
the same radio frequency
[326]
15 airplanes here in atlanta short calls
[328]
aren't the only way controllers ensure
[329]
efficiency
[330]
these strips help the controllers keep
[332]
track of all the planes moving through
[333]
that process
[335]
each one represents a plane it has the
[337]
flight number the airline
[338]
the city the planes going to or coming
[340]
from and the departure or arrival time
[343]
once the flight plan is generated at its
[345]
proposed time as you seen right here
[347]
these will print out this flight delta
[350]
1904 is an international flight it's
[351]
going from
[352]
atlanta down to marigo so delta 904
[355]
and this aircraft here is a boeing 757
[359]
200
[359]
this airplane is scheduled to depart at
[362]
1542 zulu
[363]
when he departs he's going to he's
[365]
requesting to go to 37
[366]
000 feet so this strip would then once
[369]
it's ready
[370]
then place it in one of these strip
[371]
holders so you'd find the delta 904
[374]
which is at echo9 they place echo 9 on
[377]
here
[377]
and slide it to the appropriate side a
[380]
controller will have four or five of
[382]
these strips active at once
[384]
this is how they sequence the planes in
[385]
order of priority
[387]
the passenger doesn't see the bigger
[388]
picture the pilot thinks i've been
[389]
sitting here why the reason why he's
[391]
holding is because we're trying to
[392]
provide that sequence
[393]
so that we can get maximum capacity out
[395]
at one time sequencing can help move
[397]
planes along quicker
[398]
but how exactly does it work here's an
[400]
example if two planes are going the same
[402]
direction
[403]
say to san antonio and houston they have
[405]
to be at least four miles apart so they
[407]
don't run into each other
[408]
in the sky which means time waiting
[410]
between takeoffs
[411]
but if a controller alters the sequence
[413]
using those strips
[414]
so in this case this is a west a north
[417]
and a west
[418]
this aircraft's going to san antonio
[419]
this aircraft's going to milwaukee and
[420]
this aircraft's going to houston
[422]
so we can depart 6 000 feet down the
[425]
runway and airborne
[426]
and roll all these that milwaukee flight
[428]
can take off right behind the san
[429]
antonio flight
[430]
and now they've had three planes take
[432]
off in the same amount of time
[434]
it makes a big difference for the ground
[436]
controller to actually
[438]
provide a good sequence because it's
[440]
efficient and the aircraft could keep
[442]
going at the fastest rate
[443]
and that's what we do and that's our job
[446]
efficiency means fewer delays
[448]
if there are major delays it disrupts
[449]
air travel all throughout
[451]
the country and parts of the world in
[453]
2018 atlanta hartsfield-jackson
[455]
international airport was ranked the
[458]
best airport in the u.s for flight
[459]
delays
[460]
with the highest percentage of on-time
[461]
departures 15 airplanes we're looking at
[464]
a minute behind one another so it's not
[466]
bad 15 minutes
[467]
but of course some things are out of
[469]
their control you can go upstairs and
[471]
you can look up
[472]
out of that window and you can see
[473]
nothing at all and still
[475]
have movement taking place on your
[477]
airport then there's days like today
[479]
clear in a million
[480]
that's what we call it when it's a
[481]
beautiful sunshine day and you can see
[483]
forever
[484]
we can move a whole bunch of airplanes
[486]
it's 132 an hour i believe is our
[489]
arrival rate max on a typical day we try
[491]
to stay right around in the 120s
[494]
controllers also have to contend with
[495]
inclement weather sometimes planes can't
[497]
land on their first attempt so they'll
[499]
have to pull up
[500]
circle back and get in line to land
[502]
again you have to be
[503]
ready to make a decision how am i going
[505]
to get this airplane back
[506]
up into the air back over to the next
[509]
air traffic control facility
[510]
so that they can resequence them back
[512]
into our pattern luckily some
[514]
technological advancements have made
[515]
this whole process a lot easier
[517]
remember those strips so a lot of this
[519]
is automated now
[520]
while controllers may still use the
[522]
physical strips they also show up on
[524]
monitors
[525]
and are automatically sent over to the
[527]
next controller in the sequence
[529]
also technology means weather isn't as
[531]
debilitating as it once was
[533]
there used to be weather a time when
[535]
weather would shut your airport down
[537]
but now being able to forecast and
[539]
project when that weather is coming
[541]
we're not surprised like we used to be
[543]
we go in the cloud sometimes and that's
[544]
when our equipment
[545]
is is all we got as dx radar and gps
[549]
positioning
[550]
help controllers track a plane we're
[552]
able to use that technology now
[554]
to actually separate and identify where
[558]
those airplanes are legitimately
[559]
so we can use the term clear for takeoff
[561]
even though we can't see the physical
[562]
runway any longer
[564]
but all that technology doesn't mean
[566]
these controllers can be any less
[567]
diligent
[568]
they have to be focused and undistracted
[571]
non-stop
[572]
this is the busiest airport in the world
[575]
the number the volume
[577]
i don't think many airports can handle
[578]
what we do that's the truth
[582]
all right dell 2452 continued juliet
[584]
mike to lima charlie
[586]
monitoring the tower 123.85
Most Recent Videos:
You can go back to the homepage right here: Homepage