This is post #1 for me. So Hi to everyone out there. I guess I should start out by explaining what "Patco" means. If you were born after 1975 or so and you never bothered to find out or hear about the history of the air traffic control system in this country then I suppose you would be baffled by this word. It stands for Professional Air Traffic Control Organization and it was a union that was formed in 1968 by air traffic controllers.
I say it was because in 1981 Patco was decertified by our government for striking. Over 13,000 controllers in this country were fired, me being one of them. It's kind of a long story and maybe a little boring for those of you who might be more interested in just getting on an airplane and flying to say, LA or Vegas, and having a good time, but for those of you more serious types, here goes:
PRIOR TO 1968
Compared to today, the air traffic control system was vastly different in the early 60s. Jets had just come into existence around 1960 with the Boeing 707 but there were many propeller driven aircraft servicing the general public.
Computers were in their infancy for use by controllers and our entire basement was filled with computers to take care of the system at the time. We had radar that we used to track airplanes but it was just a blip on the screen which we tracked with something we called "shrimpboats".
Shrimpboats
Shrimpboats were little pieces of plastic, pointy at one end, which we followed these blips with as they moved across the screen. At times we could have about 20 shrimpboats being pushed along on the radar screen. The primary way we had to identify these blips was by asking the pilot to "squawk ident" which then made the blips blossom a bit. Otherwise we had to make sure we pushed these little pieces of plastic with the call sign of the flight on them until they left our area of responsibility. For the most part the system worked as long as the radar system worked. But, every once in a while, we would lose the radar and then things could get really complicated (which I could talk about for another hour or so).
1968-1974
I was hired in 1968 and was assigned to area B at the New York Center. Each center in the country is split up into areas and each area is broken up into sectors. Each sector could be quite involved and before a controller is allowed to control airplanes in these sectors he has to know everything about them. Normally there are 6 or 7 sectors in each area and to be a fully qualified controller, otherwise known as a journeyman, you have to be totally aware of how each sector operates as well as know the adjacent sectors and how they operate. It normally takes 3-4 years before a controller who has just come out of school becomes fully qualified in their area.Area B
At the time area B had the reputation among us as being the most difficult not only because of the amount of traffic but also because of the degree of difficulty in moving the aircraft thru the sectors. It wasn't until 1972 that I finally became a journeyman controller at New York. Now during all that time the radar system wasn't anything like it is now. We did not have alpha numerics like today which means that we used basic raw radar as I've explained earlier to separate aircraft. Today, a tag with the name of the airplane, the type of airplane, the airspeed, the altitude, and numerous other features accompany the blip of the plane as it moves thru the airspace. Back then if two planes were getting too close or were on headings to get too close, we had only our experience to correct the possible problem.
Today, the computer starts flashing on both aircraft to warn the controller of the impending danger. In addition airliners today have a system in their planes that will take over and descend, climb or turn one or both planes automatically to avoid collisions.
1974-1981
There was an improvement in the system made in 1974. Alphanumerics came into existence but was not perfected to the point where everyone had complete faith in it. Therefore the radar screen was set up so that the controller could lower it and make it flat if necessary and quickly make up shrimpboats to keep track of the planes if the system went down. And it went down fairly often. And controllers backs went down with it sometimes since it wasn't easy to transfer the system from vertical to horizontal.So in effect we had three separate and distinct systems that we had to know thoroughly back then. The shrimpboat system of control, the new alphanumeric system, and if they both failed the non radar system. Non radar was difficult for various reasons. First of all, none of us were really proficient with it since we weren't using it very much. It was as if a pilot was used to flying one type of airplane for 5 years and all of a sudden was told to go fly a different type of aircraft for the day. And the longer we were working with radar, the harder it would become to stay current with non radar.
A non radar clearance
I had a situation one day where I had about 10 planes on the frequency and lost my radar and had two airplanes crossing with one of them going into Philadelphia. When I lost the radar they were about 20 miles apart and closing with the Philly inbound descending to 6000 and the other airplane at 8000 on an airway southwestbound. Well I gave the inbound a clearance to cross 10 from the boundary of the airway at 7000 feet or below and asked him to acknowledge leaving 7000. He repeated the clearance but it seemed like such a long time went by before he responded even though I called him several times. I never forgot that little clearance I gave him. It was an Air Mexico 727. Anyway the radar came back soon enough but that one minute waiting for that acknowledgement made me a little older that day. There were numerous days like that back then.
August 3rd 1981
One of the worst days of my life. Our union, Patco, took us all to the cleaners. Our national president, John Leyden, who happened to be a controller at the New York Center, was opposed to going on strike against the government even though the equipment we had to maintain safety was shaky. But he felt that there were other ways to get the FAA to update the equipment rather than going on strike. Unfortunately, the 7 other regional vice presidents didn't see it that way and they usurped his authority and made Robert Poli president. After that it was all downhill from there since its rather difficult to fight city hall.We were so naive politically
Of course we were all very naive when it came to politics and we were like lemmings going over the cliff. I was a big boy back then and I blame no one but myself for going along with it but it was a no win situation. Public opinion sat squarely on the side of the government as the newspapers wrote that the only reason we wanted to strike was to get raises.
What really happened later on in the year
Years later a few of us met with John Leyden in DC and he told us that in December of that year the FAA made Patco an offer to take all the controllers back on condition that the officers might have to be indicted. That offer was never brought to the union members attention. It would be over 13 years before any striking controllers were able to return to work.
very proud Dad! I love your blog! Keep writing. I'm learning alot about you.
ReplyDeletelove,
Eileen