Originally Posted by de727ups
I've seen times where it appeared one controller was working the whole airport early in the morning, in my mind most recently is PHX. Sometimes I think they do it for training just to tube the guy (or maybe the supe is taking a nap). I know that's fun for you all (and good training) but when it starts impacting the efficiency of flight ops, well....I don't think that's a good thing.
You are absolutely correct... on all counts of your post above.
At some airports, depending on what some bean counter at the FAA Regional Office has decided, there may only be one person working in the Tower. And that one person will be working
everything: All RADAR functions and all TOWER functions.
Sometimes we combine positions for training. It helps to enhance our "big picture" of the operation; increases working speed (hopefully!); and just plain forces us to pay close attention to what is happening. I trained on combined Ground Control positions last week during the NWA inbound. The other Ground Controller was plugged in right next to me at his position in case I started screwing-up. It wasn't too bad, but when the FDX arrivals started to overlap with the NWA traffic -- we opened the other Ground Control.
Each Controller will handle the workload differently. Some will hang-in there trying to work as many of you as possible, while others will tell you to "stand-by" while they try to put out a fire somewhere else on the airport. Then others will "reach out" and start calling specific aircraft at specific locations to get things moving or halt certain traffic.
There's no textbook way to handle these combined situations. Each Controller draws on his experience and training to get through the session. Some sessions will be better than others.
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