Late afternoon sunlight danced through grimy venetian blinds as Ernie, the new kid from the AVweb mail room, nervously set an email on my Remington Model 7 typewriter. He eyed the Walther PPK, weighing down the rejected manuscripts atop my in-basket, as I scanned the message from reader Jim Mehling, a Falcon 50 pilot who’d been plying NYC airspace for 54 years. Mehling offered unsolicited praise for an unknown approach controller. “(He) is the epitome of an ATC controller in a high-pressure environment.” Mehling described the mystery controller’s “gravelly voice” and “demeanor on frequency as a top flight choreographer of the greatest ballet in the world …”
I’ve been in and out of that airspace many times in the recent past… Sure wish I can hear his radio voice… Best of wishes in retirement and thanks for the impeccable service…
I heard that voice a lot while flying in and out of Republic Airport on Long Island. Good to put a face with it. Enjoy retirement, Paul, and thanks for the great service.
Flew in/out of JFK for over 20 years till I set the parking brake for the last time. Only went to EWR a couple of times and never to TET, etc. That said, there were several controllers that I remember by voice but not by name. I had a somewhat distinctive radio voice and some of the “regulars” also knew me that way. It was very comforting to hear someone you at least recognized on the other end of the radio. They often did me quiet favors in routings, etc., because I never whined or squawked when they had to change my plans to clear up something I was never privy to. One of the ones I do remember is “Kennedy Steve” on Ground Control over there. Lots of youtube clips of him and how he (and the others) kept his (their) sanity on some of the “bad” nights is well beyond my reckoning. Blessings to the ATC folks, one and all, for what they do!
Thanks for the great story. I flew in and out of EWR for years and alway appreciated the excellent approach controllers who, in turn, appreciated the patient pilots. Newark was always too busy and checking in after a handoff just added to the problem. If you were patient the new controller would call you (Thank you Continental 50, welcome home, decend and maintain xx ). If the weather was bad it was super busy. The New York traffic load only worked smoothly with VFR weather and pilots who could handle a sidestep close in or a circle to land request. Unlike some God like captains who whined about everything because they had a heavy call sign, (heaven forbid that “his airworthiness” would have to deselect auto land) a DC-10 was no harder to side step or circle than a C172.
Fantastic! Not only super controller, but super pilot also! My controller retirement however only allowed me to feed mogas into a 4 gph Aeronca. Paul may have been permitted to continue past age 56 because of the year in which he hired into FAA. I can’t remember if it was '83 or '86, but hiring before then, you were exempt from the mandatory age 56 thing. I was and I told them if they didn’t treat me good, I was going to continue vectoring until I was drooling all over the scope.
Way back in '71, for whatever reason, a study determined that controllers reach a mental burnout as they aged. So, 56 was chosen by the study for maximum controller working age. This allowed controllers who hired in at the maximum hiring age of 31 to reach at least the minimum retirement benefits by 56 and 25 years of service. I can’t remember when this actually became law. However, a controller may continue working for FAA and involved in ATC, but only in a staff or management type position. Many controllers by 56 have used their time and experience to do that and continue with FAA employment longer.
If this is the controller I’m thinking of, he has the most distinctive, smooth voice out there. Everyone on frequency loved talking to him. Great story and blue skies Paul!
Bob