People of Polish Aviation - Jacek Dragić "Gargamel"

series People of Polish Aviation

I stay on the tower

*The interview, conducted in 2017, comes from - JB Investments archives - all rights reserved.

Agata Król: Less than 5 percent of the population has character traits, personality traits and the ability to handle stress that predispose them to the job of air traffic controller. Does that mean you are in an elite group?

Jacek Dragić: Controllers are people too, of course we have to meet certain requirements and we do, while we are not superhumans. The nature of this work translates into the fact that controllers burn out faster. That controller who has more psychomotor abilities to assess the situation will work longer, will have more pleasure from it. The controller who has fewer of these qualities will tire faster, get burnout syndrome sooner, want to quit sooner, or start looking for another job. That's what it's all about, when we organize the recruitment of people, there are a lot of people in this first stage. It is important to find and, I will say brutally, eliminate those people who, in our opinion, will not cope in stressful situations during the simulator practice or later on the job.

90% of the time the controller's work is nothing extraordinary, it's calm - we have procedures, we are trained, we know what to do and the pilots know too - it's a smoothly running mechanism... but sometimes, we work under great stress. For example, recently, when my colleagues had a serious malfunction of the aircraft, a military CASA, which blocked their belt, the tires were on fire. In addition to the fact that it was an emergency, related to the announcement of the alarm, the arrival of the fire department on the scene and all the potential rescue operation, extinguishing the aircraft, or pouring some fire extinguishing fluid on the landing gear, after all, all the time we have normal traffic, so planes have to land, for example.

At the time of day when it happened, there was a traffic pile-up, so planes arriving at the airport had to be delayed. If the delay is increasing, you have to ensure that these planes depart for alternate airports. You have to act! On top of that, CASA stalled on a runway, meaning it eliminated one of the two we have and forced us to operate on one runway, which sharply limits the capacity of the airport, i.e. the number of possible operations per hour. This means working under a great deal of stress, where you have to coordinate a whole range of activities including contacting emergency services. And if on top of that the weather is not favorable... At this point there are maximum stress and maximum emotions in the controller.

We have a lot of problems, especially in the tower, in winter, when there is heavy snowfall. Aircraft have to de-ice, and after de-icing - they have to take off within 10-15 minutes, because that's how long it takes for this fluid to work, which protects the aircraft from re-icing. When the weather is nice, the traffic is heavy, but it is done smoothly, the work is even pleasant, but from time to time we have to pick up the slack.

And is this "occasionally" often or rarely?

Increasingly, due to the fact that traffic volume is increasing. The more operations, aircraft, the more incidents of some kind, i.e. landings due to passenger health problems, minor breakdowns, aborted takeoffs, for example. This follows from statistics.

Are these situations serious in terms of passenger safety?

From the point of view of passenger safety, these are not serious situations, very rarely are people's lives at risk. I, during my career, of such really dangerous situations, I remember the Lufthansa accident in 1992, earlier still A'litalia fell off the belt and had to be evacuated. Fortunately, since 1987, that is, since the Kabaty Forest accident, we haven't had any disaster in which people died, not counting the Lufthansa accident. Back then, the plane fell off the runway at the end of the airport, hit an embankment, and caught fire. Two people died. A pilot and a passenger. Airbus and Lufthansa wanted to hold us responsible for the accident, because it was easiest to shift the blame to the controller. Our company excused itself from these charges.

What actually happened there that there was an attempt to assign blame to the controllers?

The Airbus 320 was a new model and there were software problems. Secondly, the decision was made to land despite bad conditions - they had a tailwind, a wind dodge. On top of that, the landing was made on a shorter runway, at the end of which there was an embankment - it was a runway in the direction of 11 from Krakowska Avenue. Fourthly, cooperation in the crew was quite specific - the aircraft was led by two captains - one from the other accepted the so-called line check, that is, pilot control during the flight. Well, and then there was the fact that the Airbus 320 aircraft liked to behave sometimes against the intentions of the crew. The pilot wanted to open the reversers, or thrust reversers, much earlier, but the Airbus' onboard system said there was insufficient axle thrust, and those thrust reversers were turned on very late. The aircraft had a high touchdown speed and on top of that there was aquaplaning, i.e. the runway was flooded. A multitude of factors led to the accident.

It ended well enough to save most of the passengers. One of the passengers and one of the captains died. Big kudos to the tower staff at the time of the accident, because my colleagues had sounded the alarm even before the incident. They simply saw the speed of the plane and knew even then that it would end badly, that he was unable to stop before the end of the runway. They sounded the alarm just before the plane hit the obstacle and fell off the runway. As a result, the fire department arrived on the scene in no time. The machine did not catch fire immediately, but because of this fire on board, two people died. It is likely that their injuries were not serious enough to be life-threatening, but it was not possible to get them out of the plane on evacuation.

What then happens to the controller who survived such a situation?

Unfortunately, we had no support in those days. Now it is theoretically different. We are supposed to have psychological support at such events. There is even an established stress management procedure. At that time, it was the 1990s... the police came, the prosecutor came, they examined with a breathalyzer everyone one by one who was responsible, on duty. I know that a colleague who was in charge of communications with the aircraft, he experienced this strongly and did not work on the tower for some time. He moved to the training department to relieve this stress after the accident. It's not pleasant when you see with your own eyes the plane go into a dike and people die. In recent times, knocking off, we have not had such an incident, but if something had happened, I hope there would have been proper care for the controller or the whole team.

Were you already working when the Kabaty Forest disaster occurred?

I came to work right after this accident, and so I saw this trauma, which was felt especially in the approach department, which ran the communication with the aircraft until the end. I remember that in the basic course we had a reenactment of this situation on a simulator, just to see the action of a person in a stressful situation. We recreated the whole situation on the basis of the records from the plane, from the black boxes and from the records of the recorders that are on the tower. I remember it very well, because it made a huge impression on us. I think the instructors also did it to show us how responsible our job is and, of course, with what stress it involves. The trauma after the incident was palpable in the company's air. The colleague who drove the plane to the end was taken to Rakowiecka Street and interrogated for several hours. He, incidentally, is still working to this day, but already in the training department.

He came back after all for a proximity check?

Yes, he was still working. Now he passes on his knowledge and experience to younger colleagues who come to the company.

You have been recruiting recently. Is it difficult to weed out people who are suitable for the job?

We have a department responsible for recruitment. We are not always satisfied with their work afterwards, but we have the opportunity to verify, because the process takes place in several stages. The final stage is an interview in front of a committee, which always includes 2-3 active controllers, people from training who have experience as a controller. This interview is decisive. If candidates pass it, they are directed to a course. At the moment, most people go to the area, because there we have the greatest need. At the tower, for the time being, we have enough personnel.

You are on the tower. Is this your place?

On the course we had a choice - tower or area - it was a procedural control course. The assumption was that after a short time after starting in the tower and doing the radar course, we had the option to switch to approach. I, therefore, opted for the tower, thinking that I would try approach control later. The area never interested me. And so it happened, I did the radar course, started practicing on the approach, but I'll be honest... it wasn't going so perfectly and I found that I was staying on the tower.

At that time, new airports were being built and my management threw me into various other sections, as they used to say nicely. First there were shortages in Wroclaw, then the three of us and my colleagues opened an airport in Szymany (the first approach in 1996), then I was needed in Lodz. I still worked in Poznan and Szczecin. Such work was possible in those days, with current regulations there is no way to jump from airport to airport. We would have to do specific authorizations, which we did then too, but the procedures were much simpler. The Chief Civil Aviation Inspectorate assumed that if a controller worked at Okęcie, he could handle any other airport in Poland. This, of course, required a short training course, passing an exam, simulator exercises and a few familiarization tours at the airport.

In the case of airports like Szymany and Lodz, we were the first people there with authority. Basically, we created the procedures and technology for working there ourselves. With the kind of traffic that was there, it was not difficult. The challenge was at Modlin airport, where I was the manager. That was 2012. In three months we created air traffic services from scratch. The base was controllers from Warsaw and Szczecin. We went through the whole process of creation, including exercises on simulators, obtaining authorizations and later operational work. It was a big challenge.

You bear no resemblance to Gargamel. Why the nickname?

The nickname originated during the basic course. It was the time when TV started airing "Smurfs" and, as it turned out, the cartoon inspired one of my colleagues (laughs). I think most people on the other side of the radio or in the company know me as Gargamel or Gargi. More than one person would have trouble saying my name. Younger colleagues call me Gargi, I prefer this form. I left Gargamel to my older friends... it will be 30 years since I started working here. First, I was in the Air Traffic Management of Transport Airports, which, after a month, from my admission, became Airports. For the last 10 years there has been the Polish Air Navigation Agency.

Your father was a pilot. you also decided to work in aviation, but nevertheless on the ground. Why?

I come from a family with traditions. My father was a pilot, but because he survived a severe aviation accident, he could not return to his profession. He started working in air traffic services, admittedly not in Poland but in Yugoslavia, but he was just a controller.

I, of course, at first dreamed of being a pilot. I even made one attempt - I passed to the aviation high school in Deblin. Unfortunately, due to my height and spine length - I was already tall - it turned out that I exceeded the permissible limits due to the size of the seat in one of the training planes. Shortly thereafter, this aircraft was withdrawn from training and such restrictive limits were no longer in place. This was one of the simpler screening methods, given that there were many candidates for the school.

Today I can say that I do not regret what happened. I don't know if I would have wanted to do it in the end... because can a person at the age of 14 have such a defined approach to life? There was a time when I devoted myself to other things, but eventually I returned to aviation. And it was already a mature decision - I was 22 years old, I got out of the army... in the meantime I got to college, but I was not determined to go in this direction.

What were the studies?

Philosophy... In those days, people went to college because of interests, not because of specific life plans. It turned out well, as it did. Eventually I "landed" in the Air Traffic Management of communication airports. Back then, air traffic control functioned very differently than it does now. There were few controllers in Poland, air traffic at the largest airport in Warsaw, can be compared with the current volume of traffic in Krakow or Gdansk, that is, about 100-150 operations per day. At the moment we have 3 - 4 times more in Warsaw. This season, the number of operations should reach 600.

The quality of the work is completely different, as well as in approach and area control - there, too, you can see a surge in traffic. The work itself, of course, looked very different at the beginning of my career. We didn't have the equipment we have now, we didn't have radars in area control... there were single primary radars - in Pultusk and Poznan. Control was procedural, there were few airways, planes flew far less.

These 30 years, from your point of view, are a gap in the development of air traffic control services?

This is a huge technological gap. Technologies in this industry are developing very rapidly. Some solutions emerging 30 years ago as "new technologies" disappeared over time because they proved to be unprofitable, pointless, and were replaced by completely different, better solutions. These technologies work mainly on the basis of satellites and cooperation between on-board and ground-based equipment. And this is a major technological leap.

Are there still those distinctive attributes like stripes or binoculars on the tower?

Binoculars we have. The strips exist, but they already look completely different - they are only in electronic form now. If there was a malfunction, they will, of course, be printed, as a back up, and then we would work on traditional paper strips. Electronic strips, on the other hand, will eventually be an integral part of the ASMGCS system.

How does Poland look on the technological map of the world, is it on par or just catching up with other countries?

He is catching up, especially when it comes to airports. We have a large backlog here, which is a result of PAŻP policy. For many years, the company has focused on area control, as this is the most profitable branch in air traffic services. There is not yet so much traffic at Polish airports that would justify more investment.

This is changing - in recent years, due to the fact that we are in the EU, that people are becoming wealthier, that a lot of people go abroad for work or for business, we are becoming a bigger and bigger market. So not only are we seeing an increase in the number of planes flying over Poland, but also a similar trend at airports. Besides, since the world's major airports, the so-called "hubs", are getting "congested", it is inevitable that places such as F. Chopin Airport, or potentially in the future Kraków and Gdańsk, are becoming more and more attractive to carriers, who can move some traffic here and unload the most congested airports, i.e. Frankfurt, London, Paris and Amsterdam. This is an opportunity for Okęcie.

In addition, LOT is expanding its route network, bringing in new planes, and after all, Warsaw airport is its main transfer port. So new tasks appear before us - controllers from the tower in Warsaw. We have just obtained new authorizations. These are supplementary radar powers for airport control. Thanks to them, we can use radar imaging to a greater extent than before - we can support flights, offer navigational assistance for smaller aircraft, in VFR flights.

So far at Okecie, we had Class C space, as of June 22 there is Class D. Which means that we don't have to separate VFR flights from IFR, that is, small aircraft from large, passenger aircraft that make approaches. This, of course, does not exempt us from preventing collisions. We provide the necessary traffic information, give tips to avoid collisions, and react when we see that something bad might happen.

Besides, we can legally support pilots in VFR flights in case they lose their geographic orientation, with navigational assistance, i.e. giving them information about their position and possibly directions for further flight in order to hit the target.

Does this happen often?

Contrary to appearances, at night, when these pilots arrive at the airport they see a fever of lights, they get lost, lose their orientation. Now we have many more options than we used to have to assist them.

By the way, the airport is always the darkest point. The lights are extinguished so as not to blind the pilots in the final phase of the approach. They illuminate exactly as much as needed i.e. enough for the pilot to see the runway and taxiways on the straight, possibly after landing, taxiways.

Safety first and foremost. That's why your working hours look very different than in traditional companies? After two hours of work, you have one hour to recuperate.

After two hours in heavy traffic, a person actually enjoys getting up from his post and resting. In such an environment, one cannot work for more than 2 hours, as it becomes dangerous. However, a person sits in this position under constant tension, and must be concentrated at all times. As I said before, controllers are not robots or superhumans. These breaks are very important, during this time the body rests and the brain resets.

What do you most like to do for that hour, do you have a favorite activity? You have a pool, a court, a gym on site.

It depends on the time of day. I usually read something to myself. Sometimes I take a short nap, which I like especially on this afternoon/evening shift. This is the optimal way to spend time. We also use the breaks for meals. Of course, there are times when we have to run some errands at the office during the break.

You're a controller, a senior controller, you train people and that's not the end of your duties?

I am a serial controller, I am a senior controller, that is, I am responsible for managing the tower staff. On an ongoing basis, I coordinate all matters related to cooperation with the airport and other authorities, that is, in our case, with the approach and with FIS. I make decisions, let's call it tactical, for example, if for technical reasons it will be necessary to close some section of the maneuvering field, runways, etc., I will make such a decision in consultation with the airport.

I am also an instructor. I am an assessor, that is, I renew authorizations, conduct assessments of the work technique on the job and examine people who want to gain authorizations who are already admitted to the state exam.

In addition, I work in the team of ASMGCS or Advanced Surface Movement Guidance Control System, which we plan to introduce in Warsaw in one to two years. So I act as such a consultant from the air traffic services side. We are the ones who will ultimately be working on these devices, so we want to have what will satisfy us the most.

Do you still like to stand at the window and watch the planes after 30 years of work?

Yes, yes it is all the time enjoyable for me. I need it all the time, this job. A lot of people my age wonder what's next, a lot go to offices, or to some managerial positions, or to some departments that deal with inspection, training... but somehow I'm not drawn to it. Working in this system is optimal for me. Of course, I am involved in additional things, but my main job remains that of an inspector.

What words do you use to bid farewell to the pilots at takeoff?

For years, such the most frequently heard word has been "To nice...". Some people wish you a nice flight, saying it in Polish or English. In theory, it is recommended to limit the use of polite phrases on the frequency and at those airports where there is really a lot of traffic you don't hear it. At our place, when traffic is normal and we don't have some special events, when this frequency is not so busy, we greet each other, especially when we hear someone familiar. It's a nice thing to do.

Thank you for the interview. Until nice...

Text: Agata Król.
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Photos: Magda Starowieyska