A Short Guide About Air Traffic Controllers on the International Day of the Air Traffic Controller
I will start off on a personal note. Up until today, I have never really thought twice about what an Air Traffic Controller is and what work they actually undertake. The realization of how crucial and mentally challenging their work is, strung to me just today as I was reading up on the topic for the purpose of writing this article.
Photo: Maldives Airport Company Pvt Ltd
The basic idea is that Air Traffic Controllers job revolves around ensuring the safety in flow of aircrafts notoriously depending on variables such as equipment, configurations, weather, human factors etc. To do so, they direct pilots during take-offs and landing into and out of the airport space in addition to monitoring the aircrafts in air on real-time by physical viewing and via a radar. At this time, while I am sitting and writing this article, Air Traffic Controllers working across the globe are monitoring all flight moments in the air simultaneously to ensure the safety of all people on-board and my god; that is not a small amount of people. So kudos to them!
Not everyone is as ignorant as I was; the proof being the observation of an International Day of the Air Traffic Controller on 20th of October, every year since 1961, marked to honor and acknowledge the valuable work of Air Traffic Controllers across the world. The date was set based on the anniversary date of the inception of International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers’ Associations (IFATCA).
We are celebrating the International Day of the Air Traffic this year keeping in mind that the aviation industry has been significantly battered by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic across the world resulting changes to their employment statuses and salaries. It is not undeniable that things are looking up and hopefully it will stay that way during the healing journey of the industry and its workers.