Kolkata: A pilot misreading an air traffic controller's instruction can spell disaster in the air. The inability to comprehend the person at the other end of the radio transmitter can be frustrating for either.
Many pilots consider controllers to be sadists, refusing to provide the desired flight altitude and dictating terms from cushy seats in air-conditioned offices on the ground while they have to ensure a safe flight. Controllers, on the other hand, consider pilots overpaid and pampered to do a job that is not too difficult in modern day aircraft equipped with fly-by-wire avionics.
More often than not, pilots and controllers-the two most crucial components in flight safety-have a poor opinion about each other. Though critically inter-dependant: the pilot can steer the aircraft but can make a safe journey only under the guidance of a controller's eye on the sky, a prejudiced mind and lack of appreciation for each other's capabilities and difficulties at work leads to ineffective communication that can compromise safety.
11/06/13 Subhro Niyogi/Times of India
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Many pilots consider controllers to be sadists, refusing to provide the desired flight altitude and dictating terms from cushy seats in air-conditioned offices on the ground while they have to ensure a safe flight. Controllers, on the other hand, consider pilots overpaid and pampered to do a job that is not too difficult in modern day aircraft equipped with fly-by-wire avionics.
More often than not, pilots and controllers-the two most crucial components in flight safety-have a poor opinion about each other. Though critically inter-dependant: the pilot can steer the aircraft but can make a safe journey only under the guidance of a controller's eye on the sky, a prejudiced mind and lack of appreciation for each other's capabilities and difficulties at work leads to ineffective communication that can compromise safety.
11/06/13 Subhro Niyogi/Times of India
