It was Autumn 2014 and it was an afternoon shift. At the time, there were numerous ‘Getting Your Game Face On’ posters around the Tower; they’d been on display for a while but if you weren’t into rugby they were pretty easy to walk past. I thought it would be an idea, therefore, to share an experience of mine that shows why ‘Getting Your Game Face On’ is essential for all of us prior to plugging in.
I had a problem with staffing that day due to sickness and no AAVA cover available; it meant that there would only be 2 controllers on duty after 2000hrs. The traffic was fairly straightforward and not horrifically busy. I did a stint on Radar and then was given a break at 1430hrs. During the break I constructed a break plan which, to my astonishment, worked perfectly, with none of the usual drama associated with break plans and less than optimal staffing. Now, those of you who do break plans will know that this usually means you’ve left somebody in position for 2½ or even 3 hours, so I was a bit suspicious of it.
OK, I don’t have time to check any further because I’ve got to do a couple of breaks in the VCR. Up I go and plug in on Tower. Its straightforward and reasonably quiet. We’re on 05 and there’s one at the Golf 1 holding point and one on final to land. Even I can do that, so I take responsibility for the position and clear the arrival to land. Then an Ops vehicle calls me wanting to cross from Charlie to Yankee. I tell them to hold position and decide that I’ll cross them after the landing traffic has passed the intersection.
Meanwhile, as I wait to put my cunning plan into operation, I’m mentally running through the break plan I’ve done, trying to find where it has obviously gone wrong. The arrival lands and, as it passes Golf 1, I line up the waiting aircraft, warning the crew that there will be a vehicle crossing further down the runway in front of them. I must have made the mistake somewhere around tea break time. Probably got somebody working an extra hour.
“Ops vehicle cross Charlie to Yankee report vacated”. Then, “Arriving aircraft vacate right at Bravo and contact Ground on 121.7”, something I’ve done for more than 30 years, but don’t tell my trainees to do. If I haven’t made the mistake there, maybe I’ve done it later. Can’t think exactly when, though. Ops vehicle reports clear of the runway. I look up and think, no you’re not, you haven’t crossed the holding point at Yankee, yet. Maybe the break plan’s fine. Maybe I haven’t made a mistake and it has just worked out.Then I see the vehicle cross Yankee and acknowledge it. I’d better check the break plan again when I’m finished here. Right, the vehicle’s off the runway and I clear the departure for take-off.
As I’m transmitting this I’m carrying out my usual visual scan of the runway. I start at the 05 threshold, progress down to the 23 end and then start ba…. what the hell is that doing there? I’ve just finished my transmission when I see the arrival still on the runway, just turning towards Bravo but, before I can say anything, the crew of the departure aircraft point that fact out to me. Sod it!
Now I’ll be honest. My first thought, combined with a sneaky wee look around, was ‘Did anybody notice that? Could I get away with it?’ Then of course I realise the ridiculousness of that thought. I acknowledge the pilot’s report, cancel their take off clearance, tell them to hold position, and apologise for my stupidity. I watch the arrival turn onto Bravo and then I clear the departure for take-off.
What an eejit, I’m thinking (well not exactly, but I don’t want to damage anybody’s sensibilities this early in the New Year). Still, it could have been worse. I get relieved and go back downstairs to send my colleague up to recommence the breaks. Did I say it could have been worse? Well, it got worse. Somebody looked at the Veristore recording of the SMR and spotted that when I’d cleared the departure for take-off the second time, the arrival hadn’t left the clear and graded area.
So that’s pretty impressive. In the space of a couple of minutes I’d had two runway safety events. I hadn’t exhibited that level of genius since winning the inaugural Golden Shovel award on my Radar course for having 2 technical losses of separation BEFORE clocks on. My reaction was one of anger at myself for being so stupid, coupled with embarrassment that it had happened because it was other ATCOs that did that sort of thing, not me.
The root cause was me being too busy worrying about other things instead of paying full attention to what was going on in front of me. Would it have solved things if I’d kept the arrival on my frequency and its strip in the runway bay? Possibly, but even after completing an HF interview, I wasn’t as convinced as others were. I was distracted by my brilliance with the break plan and my conviction that there must be something wrong with it. It distracted me to the extent that I forgot completely about the arrival, and it persuaded me that the traffic preventing the departure was the Ops vehicle. I’m not sure I would have properly registered another flight strip in the runway bay.
I failed to concentrate properly on what was going on around me and let myself drift off whilst I mentally checked a plan that I could do nothing to change whilst I was plugged in. This was an excellent demonstration of not getting your game face on. My game face was still in the dressing room trying to spot non-existent errors in a break plan. Don’t let that sort of stupidity bite you. When you’re plugging in, your entire concentration needs to be on what you’re doing. When you’re working traffic, your entire concentration needs to be there, not on some bizarre conversation you’re having with a colleague, not on a book, certainly NOT on a smartphone and definitely not on something you were doing before you plugged in.
It’s incumbent on all of us to avoid distraction from our main task. If you feel you are being distracted by whatever method, be it conversation, noise, whatever, just tell the individual(s) to shut up. Likewise, if you see something that could be a distraction then deal with it, and if you’re responsible then take it on the chin and shut up or move away. Watch Managers and Deputies have to be aware that they need to leave non-operational things behind when they plug in. I didn’t and got bitten and bitten badly. Don’t let it happen to you.
