I forgot I wanted to make this blog about flying too. When I’m not working in child injury advocacy, I am an air traffic controller. Yup! Just like the guy in Breaking Bad, but I’m much better at it, so far. The gist of this is that I work on the ground through a controlled airspace providing advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airspace. So I spend a lot of time saying, “you’re clear to proceed to gate #.”

My preferred role in air traffic controls is through tower control, responsibility for the active runway surfaces.  I clear aircrafts for take=off and landing and ensure that the prescribed runway separation always exists.  So if you’re ever sitting on a plane waiting for a gate, know that someone like me is sitting in a tower making sure that you get a gate, but that it’s safe for everyone on your plane as well as all of the other planes at the airport.  This is a good fit for me because while it allows me to use my analytic brain and conduct work through ha series of logical steps and conclusions, it doesn’t allow much for big disastrous mistakes like the one in Breaking Bad which was caused by a mid-air collision due to an air traffic controller on zero sleep and reeling from the death of his daughter.

For what it’s worth, my airport requires leaves of absence for any air traffic controllers experiencing a similar trauma or upsetting life event. Besides traffic and weather, air traffic control problems are the next cause of air traffic disasters – in my opinion. I wouldn’t want anyone doing the job who could possibly disagree with me.