The Role Of Air Traffic Controller

Since 1929, there have been people sitting in towers and dark radar rooms being the voice of regulation and controlling aircraft, these men and women are known as Air Traffic Controllers. Air Traffic Controllers hold much weight on their shoulders when they are “plugged in”; having thousands of lives under your control can bring this weight upon a controller. But what happens when an Air Traffic Controller accidently or negligently gives wrong instructions to an aircraft and there is a loss of life or structural damage? Who is responsible? In this paper I will discuss the legality that Air Traffic Controllers have looming over their heads while controlling aircraft. After discussing the legal bindings that Air Traffic Controllers have with

These three sub priorities are set in stone for how and when an air traffic controller must control aircraft. Paragraph 2-1-2 of the J.O 7110.65V states the duty priority of a controller by their main objective and other obligations; an air traffic controller’s duty priority is to “Give first priority to separating aircraft and issuing safety alerts as required in this order. Good judgment must be used in prioritizing all other provisions of this order based on the requirements of the situation at hand.” This paragraph of the J.O 7110.65V can give insight to many legal debates for when an air traffic controller is under scrutiny for an incident or accident of an aircraft. Duty priority is mainly important due to the fact that by taking an incident or accident the judge or counsel can see if the controller was acting under prescribed duty priority and if the controller had a higher priority at hand. The next sub priority of a controller is procedural preference. Explained in paragraph 2-1-3 of the 7110.65V the procedural preference of a controller is to one, use automation in preference to non-automation, two, use radar separation in preference to non-radar separation and three, to use non-radar separation in preference to radar separation when a operational advantage is to be gained. Procedural

Many cases are brought upon air traffic controllers from pilots, airlines, and unions in order to find fewer faults in their own and to put fault somewhere else and who better to put fault on than someone with the title of “controller”? Out of all the cases that controllers have been a part of, there are three that stand out in giving a well-rounded idea of the liability that controllers may or may not have had while being “plugged