Quote:
Originally Posted by speeder
That compensation is fantastic but the responsibility is huge, so it makes sense. There are plenty of people busting their asses for a fraction of that pay, though.
A couple questions, just out of curiosity: 1) If the person relieving you is late or does not show up, (car accident/overslept/whatever), you don't leave, I'm assuming? 2) Does every pilot in the world have to speak/understand English? How does that work?
|
Yep, where I work, there are several hundred controllers employed there.
There are six "areas" at LA center. Each area is broken up into 6-8 sectors of airspace. During a given day shift, each area has about 11-12 controllers working it. At night time, the numbers are lower...maybe 7-9. On the overnight shift, we have two controllers work in each area.
I've only had one time where I got stuck on position because somebody didn't show up...and it was late at night. I had to stick around an extra 30 minutes. You can't just get up and walk away from it.
And yes, English is the international language for aviation. We have to be deemed "English Proficient." (Both pilots and controllers have this. I have this stamp on both my pilot ratings and my controller credentials).
The biggest English issues are Russian pilots and IFTA trainees. IFTA students are Asian pilots being trained here in the US. Very hard to understand and tend to have issues with following instructions properly. Oh yeah...and whenever I work VFR aircraft, I usually take extra care to go slow with them and to make them not feel intimidated. Even guys with fine English get nervous when they check onto a busy sector. Sometimes they get nervous when they check onto my frequency and they hear me rattling off clearances every 2-3 seconds while working a push of LAX arrivals.