Abrupt Controller

Kobra wrote:
"Sam Spade" wrote in message
...

Kobra wrote:


was unprofessional to lay me out like that. This reminds me of how a
mid-air occurred in LA because a new controller took time to admonish a
GA pilot for a couple minutes while a commercial plane and a Piper
collided right in front of him on his screen.


I'll leave the comments about your handling to others, but your
characterization of that 1986 tragedy over Cerritos, CA is grossly
misleading.

The NTSB found no fault with the controller working those aircraft. In
fact, he is a highly regarded airspace manager today.

The Piper pilot was illegally within the TCA (Class B airspace).


Hello Sam,

I did not mean to be misleading and of course I don't have all the facts.
Using only the information I do have, I feel it a fact that he spent
needless time lecturing a GA pilot who was also illegally in the TCA. It
would not be a stretch to infer that this distracted him from his scope. No
one can say that it's not *possible* or even likely that if he didn't give
his lecture that he may have seen the conflict and warned the airliner about
the VFR target's position and direction of flight with the typical "altitude
known".

Hey, who knows, but I am surprised yet happy that this person came back to
the FAA and ATC. The show *Air Emergency* (which is how I learned about
this) made it appear that once he came back to work, he immediately decided
that ATC was not for him and he never worked for ATC again. I'm happy
everything worked out for him. I felt really bad for him when I saw the
show.

Kobra


You should read the full NTSB report. I found it on-line this morning
with a Google search:

http://amelia.db.erau.edu/reports/ntsb/aar/AAR87-07.pdf

The Piper's primary target didn't show because of a weather inversion.
Because he was sqawking 1200 his beacon return was rudimentary (which
the NTSB did find fault with).

The other aircraft that violated the TCA was being worked by the
controller. When he determined (no mandatory Mode C at the time) that
the aircraft was inside the TCA without a clearance the controller made
it clear that he was inside the airspace and that he needed to use his
TCA chart more dilgently. It was an appropriate response to the
intrustion; not a tirade.

Traffic was light for LAX airspace, and there were two controllers on
this position. Had they both had their eyes glued on the DC-9 they
still couldn't have detected a potential mid-air in the making. The
technology at the time was just too crappy.