I think the shortages have just continued to make an already-bad situation worse with regard to the disgruntled controllers.

 

I really don't think that controller had a leg to stand on - "Between now and midnight" is a ridiculous answer. A good proportion of the NYC controllers at all 3 airports seem to take pride in being rude, demeaning and overly aggressive. The problem with this is that just adds to the radio congestion and makes the whole operation less safe and very much more inefficient. If the controllers would speak calmly, clearly and slowly it would probably save a lot of unnecessary radio calls. Assuming a Pilot that sees JFK occasionally has the same level of knowledge as a controller who operates there every single day is what IMHO leads to a lot of these issues.

Yes the NYC airports are overcrowded, but some of the controllers attitudes only adds to the problems instead of helping to mitigate them.

Scoop

 

Anecdotal and outdated, but just an attempt to show human nature rather than the stresses of NYC come into play.

In the mid 1970's during the wee hours of the morning myself and a few other light twins/twin beeches starting their taxi's at STL. One guy gets all confused and ground goes off on him.
Whatever.

A few minutes later I am airborne as the ground berated flight checks in with departure. After departure acknowledges he pauses then asks: "Flight xyz just WHAT did you do to that poor ground controller?!"
I always wondered just what kind of behind the scenes meltdown that controller had.

 

So I finally got a chance to watch the replay. Controller was definitely being over the top, but I've been in LGA like that a bunch of times and honestly asking for your number in the sequence seems a bit ridiculous too, especially trying to get in during a very busy time on the radio (which is a lot of the time at LGA I know). I mean there's obviously tons of planes out there and does it really matter if you're #18 or #22? Either way it's going to be a long time. They sat for an hour before returning to the gate so they had time to play with before fuel was going to become an issue. Personally in most of those situations I've found if you just wait it out a bit you can get a general idea of how things are flowing and roughly where you stand. If fuel and/or duty day become an issue then a radio call like "DL999 has 30 minutes before we have to return to the gate, how are things looking for us?" could garner a little more actionable response from the controller.

 

"Between now and midnight"

"Midnight Zulu or midnight local?"

 

More like Threat Level Midnight. 😂

 

It's not ridiculous when you don't know which sectors are taking off. Then the controller says between now and midnight, so that tells me leave them both running and be ready. If they guessed they were #18 or #22 and also could be next, it's absolutely confusing.

The controller seemed to have the situation under control. A simple 'standby' would have sufficed.

I've been in JFK, EWR, LGA, ORD, etc. where the controllers give you a general sense of what's going on. This guy was being deliberately obtuse.

 

We could just all start asking LGA ground if “Idiot” is working today! 🤣😂🤣

 

I usta love to tell them the safety wire on the 31 windsock was broken, as it was swinging every which-way.

 

This drives me crazy! Not throwing spears at you, but New Yorkers who think being an arsehole is a cute cultural feature…..are just arseholes.