Most unprofessional tower controllers

[Vector4fun]

When a controller does a good job or an *incredible job* (the MDW tower controller this afternoon!) I will let him know when I make my last transmission to him. Hopefully it makes him feel good that his hard work was recognized just as it makes me feel good when I'm recognized.

Illini,

Thanks, it's appreciated. Lord knows, nobody in FAA manglement know's how to say it anymore....

 

[mnixon]

Yep. I once heard him yell out "DOES ANYBODY IN THE PATTERN HEAR WHAT I'M SAYING????"

Granted the pattern was a zoo that day and people were missing their calls...but it was kinda funny/scary hearing him blow his stack.

We left the pattern and went to play around in MLB at this point.

You ever get the "report the Wal-mart inbound!" First time I heard that I nearly crapped myself laughing hysterically, but guaranteed I saw that bugger about 10 miles out!

 

[TDTURBO]

After Flying all around the U.S., I have come to appreciate the superior quality of controllers in Chicago compared to Phoenix or other places out west. It is like night and day. The guys at Chicago approach are incredible, not always pleasant but very good at what they do. I can say the same for South Bend approach as well, plus they are extremely accommodating and pleasant to deal with.

I have also run into a real as-hole in Kissimmee more than once, and I wasn't shy about telling him either.


As far as what flying Illini said, I do the same, I always give credit where credit is do if the contoller is good, the opposite is true as well. I never hesitate to point out obvious screw-ups on "their end" either.

 

[Lrjtcaptain]

flyingillini wrote:
IMHO, I don't view controllers as "them" and pilots as "us." That attitude just doesn't promote a good working environment and let's face it, we all work together...we just don't see each other's faces. This may sound corny but I'll say it anyway. When I do something good or help the controller out and he/she says thanks, I feel good. When a controller does a good job or an *incredible job* (the MDW tower controller this afternoon!) I will let him know when I make my last transmission to him. Hopefully it makes him feel good that his hard work was recognized just as it makes me feel good when I'm recognized.

In all honesty, when you thank a controller, its the kiss of death seriously. We view that as a point in the day in which we sounded busy and that we were on the verge of loosing the picture. Someone says goodjob to me and I know Im going down fast so I hate to hear it.

TDTurbo wrote:
After Flying all around the U.S., I have come to appreciate the superior quality of controllers in Chicago compared to Phoenix or other places out west. It is like night and day. The guys at Chicago approach are incredible, not always pleasant but very good at what they do. I can say the same for South Bend approach as well, plus they are extremely accommodating and pleasant to deal with.

This all comes down to good management means happy controllers. Phoenix has bad management, but supervisors etc....They even had a controller a few years back kill herself because she was having problems with some of the controllers and management didn't do a **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED** thing to stop it. When there is good hub management, good management at each faciltiy all the controllers can relax. I honestly think I have the best ATM and best Hub Manager in the entire system. All of us controllers are generally happy with our working conditions minus being severly understaffed.

 

[Flying Illini]

In all honesty, when you thank a controller, its the kiss of death seriously. We view that as a point in the day in which we sounded busy and that we were on the verge of loosing the picture. Someone says goodjob to me and I know Im going down fast so I hate to hear it.

You may have been on the verge of losing the picture, but you didn't. You were operating at capacity and doing a heluva job NOT losing the picture. There are times when traffic is heavy or wx changes game plans. When ATC is able to make adjustments while still accomodating the guys in the planes as much as possible, that's pretty incredible to me. The MDW controller was working hard during all the afternoon inbounds and outbounds all while having people fly the ILS 31C, circle 22L. We offered up 22R since we could land on it and he gladly accepted. Going to million air we were stuck for about 5 minutes or so waiting to cross 22L from 22R. During that 5 minutes we were able to witness a controller who was handling an enormous amount of arrivals and departures while making sure people didn't fly bomber patterns over downtown Chicago during their circles. It was d@mn impressive to listen to and watch. And he did it like a well oiled machine. I don't know if he was on the verge of losing the picture, he just had to keep an eye on us pilots to make sure non of us screwed the pooch. Had that happened his whole system would have come crashing down (not literally!). Having said that, his well oiled machine works to near perfection because the pilots also understand that operations are being conducted with no room for error, when he says I need you on the roll NOW, it means the power should be at full and the plane rolling by the time you finish the readback. When both sides operate like that, it makes both sides happy. Now, when someone doesn't follow directions, I can understand the controllers when they get upset.

Anyway, as said above, credit where credit is due, everytime.

 

[Bernoulli]

Don't want to kiss any mud flaps here...but...ahhh...To all you controllers out there... Thanks for doing what you do. You guys allow me and the rest of us pilots to safely do what we love (or at least I still love it). Just thought I'd send a little credit to where it's due.