Air traffic controllers perform dual mission, put fighters on target

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Melissa Phillips
  • 407th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs
Air traffic controllers here are breaking new ground –- or space, as one might say in the air traffic control world.

Not only do controllers balance their normal workload of ensuring the safety of civilian airplane traffic in the area, but they also direct fighter aircraft to engage the enemy in the southern third of Iraq.

It is a first for the controllers, said Capt. James Hudnell, airfield operations flight commander for the 407th Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron.

He is one of a handful of controllers throughout Southwest Asia laying preparations to return Iraqi airspace control duties back to Iraqis. But until that time, Captain Hudnell and his crew control all air traffic from the Kuwait border to south of Balad Air Base in northern Iraq.

“Normally, the air traffic controller’s mission is to safely separate aircraft from one another,” said Captain Hudnell, who is deployed from Scott Air Force Base, Ill.

Here, area control center controllers have the unique opportunity to direct fighters to engage the enemy. It is a job usually done by air battle managers and air control squadron personnel elsewhere in theater.

Although both jobs are similar, a fundamental difference remains -- air traffic controllers were never trained to direct aircraft to targets during battle.

Even their main source of information looks different, which is a circular scope that serves as a crystal ball of sorts to help controllers keep track of and predict where aircraft will be flying in relation to each other.

Diagonal and horizontal lines converge and grid the screen into more than 100 squares called “kill boxes.”

Whenever suspicious activity pops up in a certain area under their domain, controllers activate a kill box and direct fighter aircraft to the box.

The fighters zoom in fast for the kill and pull back hard to gain altitude away from enemy gunfire, performing an aerial roller coaster in the sky until the mission is complete and the enemy is destroyed.

During that time, it is imperative that no other airplanes stray into the kill box until the target is taken out. Often, that takes some creative maneuvering on the controller’s part.

“Sometimes we have to tell aircraft to spin around each other,” said Captain Hudnell, who said he is not happy unless there are lots of airplanes in the sky to control.

The controllers move the million-dollar aircraft around each other like giant pawns on a board game. Only instead of playing with plastic game pieces, each blip on the computer screen can represent hundreds of lives which controllers shoulder the responsibility for while an aircraft flies in their airspace.

In a dark room far away from the aircraft under their control, they rely on a radar-generated image their scope provides them.

“Controllers get to see the whole picture, and we have a very limited picture,” said Capt. Charley Parent, a Squadron 23 (Transport) Advisory Support Team instructor pilot assigned to the 777th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron.

“We don’t have advisory systems on board the C-130 (Hercules), so we rely on controllers to let us know where other planes are flying and how to avoid any potential conflicts,” said Captain Parent, who is deployed from Yokota Air Base, Japan.

Captain Parent said controllers are key to a pilot’s piece of mind, and on several occasions have prevented the crew from looking up and startling themselves by seeing another aircraft pop out of the blue.

“The other day we were flying, and they warned us that another C-130 was about a 1,000 feet above us and flying towards us in the opposite direction,” Captain Parent said.

If either aircraft decided to climb or descend without asking permission of the controller, a deadly collision could have occurred within a matter of seconds.

“Air traffic control is kind of like playing a chess game,” Captain Hudnell said. “You have to know when to move your pieces around.”

That takes extensive training and memorizing massive amounts of information such as multiple aircraft characteristics, plus details as minute as knowing how specific pilots and units react to different situations.

“At first I was scared,” said Senior Airman Megan Lister, a 407th EOSS area control center controller who directs C-5 Galaxys at Dover AFB, Del.

“At Dover, (saying I’m) busy might mean I’m controlling five to seven aircraft at once,” Airman Lister said. “Here, busy is controlling 20 to 30 aircraft at once.”

For the young Airman on her first deployment from her first duty station, controlling here gives her an “adrenaline rush.”

“I’ve seen a lot of airspace go active here when there is a situation,” she said. “We put tactical assets on target by sending fighters in (to kill boxes), who (in turn) watch for suspicious activity (and take out the enemy).”

As the area control center controllers here fulfill an unexpected wartime function, they are simultaneously charged with protection of the airways.

“We provide a safe place for people to fly,” she said. “A lot of times people don’t realize when things get busy there is not a lot of airspace (to safely ensure planes don’t collide with each other). We make that space.”

Their job is made more complex as Iraqi air space is made safer by the U.S. and coalition forces. Consequently, civilian aircraft are resuming more flights over Iraq to destinations such as India, Iran, Syria and Turkey.

In addition, area control center controllers also direct civilian air traffic transiting through the area.

“It’s good to know I’m helping someone go see their family in Baghdad or elsewhere,” Airman Lister said.

Whereas area control center controllers direct air operations for the long haul, their tower controller teammates work airplane traffic on a much more personal basis.

Surrounded by glass on all sides, tower controllers provide a human eye on the flightline and visually check to ensure aircraft are safely separated from each other. Airmen in the tower control air traffic within a five-mile radius of the base and up to 3,000 feet.

“You have to have the ability to know where aircraft will be 30 to 45 seconds in the future,” said Tech. Sgt. Chad McBee, a 407th EOSS air traffic controller deployed from Pope AFB, N.C.

All the tidbits of information factor into a mind-twisting equation that controllers must instinctively calculate at a moment’s notice so they can get the pilot safely out of the sky or put one in it.

There is no time to shuffle through a continuity book or operating instruction to find the answer.

“I’m (continually scanning outside the window) to make sure there is a hole for departure,” Sergeant McBee said.

Tower controllers work hand in hand with area control center controllers to ensure the safety of people here and those transiting the airways in their domain.

Area control center controllers are the ones putting fighters on target and controlling aircraft from the surface to 40,000 feet up, and outward over the vast expanse of 50,000-square miles surrounding Ali Base.

Although both the tower and area control center controllers rarely meet their customers in person, the significance of the product they provide is ingrained in them.

Captain Hudnell explains his job’s significance to people by quoting Beano Cook, an ESPN analyst who said, “A football coach can go 9-2, great year. An air traffic controller goes 9-2, somebody’s in trouble.”

It is a zero-error work environment, and that pressure has earned air traffic control the reputation of one as the most stressful career fields in the world.

However, those who make the cut say the rewards override the stress.

“You can actually see your impact on the mission,” said Staff Sgt. John Gladney, a 407th EOSS air traffic tower watch supervisor who supervises several controllers and directs each plane’s movement on the flightline and in the air.

“(As a controller), you’re clearing airplanes, minimizing delays and helping to move cargo to support the troops on the ground,” said Sergeant Gladney, who is deployed from Tyndall AFB, Fla. “I wouldn’t want to do any other job. It makes me proud to be doing this.”