Selects: How Air Traffic Control Works | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

uh hello everybody this is your captain. Charles W Chuck Bryant we're flying the. friendly Skies here in April uh looks. like. 2012 with an episode uh on how air. traffic control. works so the seat Bel sign is off you. can recline you can move about the cabin. freely you can go use that stinky. bathroom with a terrible sounding toilet. flush if you wish if I were you I would.

hold it but please listen to this. episode welcome to stuff you should know. a production of iHeart. [Music]. Radio hey and welcome to the podcast uh. this is Josh Clark uh I'm with you. alongside me is Charles W Chuck Bryant. we're about to take this joint 33 th000.

ft into the air about to push some tin. yeah that's the lingo it is it's I've SE. pushing tin as well yeah I saw that. movie I assume that's the lingo. otherwise they probably would not have. titled it thle uh you could also they. could be about like a car driving movie. too somebody who has like a pretty good. Radio Flyer wagon there's a lot of. things that that could apply or. recycling movie yeah pushing ton yes uh. we're speaking of the. 1999 uh Mike Newell.

click with Billy Bob Thorton and that. was a good one John uh kusac kusac yeah. that's where John CAC and um Angelina. Jolie met and ended up getting married. you mean Billy bport no I'm pretty sure. it's John qac yeah I didn't think it was. very good are you kidding did you like. it it was all right all right I have to. admit that movies that I thought were. awesome in the late 90s when I go back. and watch them now I'm usually like not. as great yeah there's very few that hold. up I'm trying to think of one I saw. again recently that did hold up I'm.

going to sit here for a while until I. think of it it wasn't pushing tin though. I don't know I haven't seen it for a. while in the movie they were uh air. traffic controllers yes and um that's. what we're going to talk about today so. that's how pushing ton relates to this. one right I thought I'd clear that up in. case people were like what are they. talking about again that you got any. other good Air Traffic Control. movies uh well airplane yeah of course. classic Lloyd Bridges looks like I. picked the wrong week to stop st.

yeah uh other than that I have nothing. oh what about all the real airport. movies oh sure yeah airport 70 airport. 75. 77. 83 94 yeah the grungier yeah um speaking. of the grung years I've recently gotten. into David Foster Wallace uhuh and I am. genuinely sad that he killed himself he. was a good guy he was a good writer good. guy like from what he shared in his. writing he was pretty cool well I think.

a late um acknowledgement of feeling bad. about that is better than nothing at all. yeah so welcome aboard that train. thanks Chuck yes have you ever been to. Reagan National Airport I know you have. cuz I've been there with you my friend. the sickest I've ever seen another human. being was you at Reagan National oh my. God stomach flu I people actually get. green I learned from looking at you and. hats off to me for pitching a television. show to Science Channel.

in between vomiting voming episodes that. was rough you had a staff infection in. your stomach like jumped up and after we. pitched the show and like ran to the. bathroom and puked and then came back. and was like hey thanks for the time. yeah it was something so that was a bad. flight home yes well uh it could have. been even worse because had we been. flying at night um about a year ago last. March sometime between midnight and 6 we. may have been forced to land at Reagan. DCA we'll call it yeah um without the.

help of any air traffic controller that. because one night in March last year. 2011 um the one guy who was controlling. the tower for all flights at DCA um fell. asleep and could not be roused really I. mean he was out was he drunk no cuz that. happened in Colorado remember that uh no. there was a drunk air traffic controller. that they uh they pulled from the job.

okay I know that is so not cool no that. is a job where it's like you drug test. them every day you uh you smell their. breath when they come in right there's. somebody whose job it should be to like. clap next to their ears like 24 hours. symbol on the job yeah but this guy no. his his thing was this is his fourth. consecutive overnight shift and and he. was he couldn't stay awake um so uh but. apparently other control Towers were. calling him right couldn't wake him up.

they're radioing him couldn't wake him. up and then they have this system called. the shout shout line where like you can. call somebody in and it goes through a. PA system really loud they were shouting. to wake this guy up W and it's in place. for that reason yeah jeez that's scary. and uh nothing nothing happened so two. different flights landed themselves and. I should say they didn't necessarily. land themselves the uh Brave Valiant. people at uh. Tron the uh what is it.

uh the terminal radar approach control. yeah people who AR have nothing to do. with Landing they took over and helped. safely land two planes yeah it was a. scary night well and what you're. illustrating there which is what we'll. get into is that there are a lot of. people that get you from point A to. point B when you're sitting there. enjoying your uh vodka gimlet yes but. not complaining about the peanuts God. help you if you open peanuts on a plane. these days they will tackle you really. oh yeah people have peanut allergies is.

that new yeah it's very new but because. that happened on our flight seriously. was it to Austin yeah yeah that's right. that I had never heard of that before. that's happened to us. before wow is this your first time yep I. just got a. text let's go ahead and leave that in. all right why not need to show our. unprofessionalism these are free for now. all right I'm silent okay all right so. you back with me yes um I did not know. about the p thing I'd never heard of.

that before on our flight to Austin they. said we have someone who's allergic and. no one can eat peanuts on the whole. flight like don't even open them up and. then they served as pretzels that it. said on the on the label um these were. processed in a plant that also processes. peanuts and other nuts does it. really but at least they weren't peanuts. but that's happened to Yi and me before. on flights where it's like dude there's. somebody who's so violently allergic to. peanuts you can't even open them so cuz. my first reaction was kind of jerky I I. was like well that's not fair to.

everyone else and then I thought come on. yeah right I don't even care for the. peanuts you know yeah they're not even. that good no who's who cares um people. who really love peanuts I'm sure but I. guess what I'm trying to drive at is. that's everything there is to know about. air traffic controllers the. end Josh there are approximately 50,000. aircraft operating in US airspace every. day. 50,000 so here's the thing if there's. 5,000 in the sky. every hour during peak hours did you do.

some math that didn't work out I don't. understand this cuz think about so let's. say every hour was a peak hour well. they're not otherwise it wouldn't be a. peak hour all right I guess that's what. it is then but even. still that's crazy that seems off but. whatever I'm gonna I defer to Freud and. Rick he has a PHD and I don't although I. always wondered what it was. in who Craig's uh the the author of this. article's PhD yeah we should we we can. you can find that out okay maybe it's a.

honor it's like a Bill Cosby. doctorate you know he's got like 10 of. them he apparently I used to make fun of. Bill Cosby a lot because I think he's an. old crank jerk and um I got called out. once because I was making fun of his. doctors he apparently has at least one I. think in education like that he earned. oh really yeah it wasn't just from a. speaking engagement well who am I my dad. has a PHD so we should probably start. talking about air traffic control or huh. yes um. it's actually I thought this was very.

cool how it works um and we're going to. get into it pretty specifically from. from the time you are sitting on your. plane to the time you land and are. getting off your plane and for those of. you who like to fly between say um DC. and Atlanta this will last approximately. about as long as your flight will no. we'll we'll go through it all right. let's start out with uh airspace there. are 21 zones in the United States. airspace yeah or centers each of those. zones is divided into sectors and within.

each of those zones uh there are. portions of airspace about 50 Mi what in. diameter yeah yeah and that is called. Tron Tron that is the terminal radar. approach control that you talked about. yeah and within the Tron there are could. be several airports depending on where. you are like for example if you're in. the San Francisco area you have not one. not two but three international airports. within that Tron within just a few miles. of each other and each of those airports.

has their own 5 mile radius of their own. airspace but that can overlap evidently. are they within five miles uh no I'll. bet you they don't build them within. five miles of each other or 10 miles if. if it's a 5 mile radius yeah that would. make S they can't overlap so but uh this. map might not be to scale because it. looks kind of cartoony but it looks like. they're pretty close it's confusing at. the very least at the very least there's. three international airports within the. same traycon. right all right so FAA. they run the traffic control system it's.

a government body they take care of it. all we'll get to the strike a bit later. oh you don't want to talk about that no. I was just excited about talking about. it uh we can talk now no no it's okay uh. so there are there are several different. um uh divisions and we'll go over those. now so you know what we're talking about. here when you take off and you'll know. who's handling you at any given moment. yeah and it's all pretty intuitive sure. it makes sense uh for Rick used a really.

good um analogy I thought that just. completely clears any misunderstanding. whatsoever up it's all very much like a. zone defense yeah you just as your plane. is moving it gets handed off from one. person to another person to another. person as your plane crosses through. their airspace we could really stop. there mhm but let's not okay division. one uh air traffic control system. Command Center uh. atcscc they oversee the whole ball of. wax and uh manage control with within. the centers uh when when there's.

problems so I I get the impression that. these guys are like the cream of the. crop yeah like they're like you you've. got some pretty bad weather here I'm. just going to go ahead and take over. your controls and handle this for you. yeah I got that I got that idea um they. have uh next is the air Route traffic. control centers and there is one artcc. for each Center and they manage traffic. within all sectors of that Center except. for that 50 m Tron Zone.

yes correct yes okay these are the ones. where it's kind of like you're on the. boonies okay like I get the impression. that Tron airspace is like um a little. Urban yeah like they're saying like. there's actual airports. here this is just over the over the. Great Planes okay there are the air. traffic air Route traffic control. centers all right then you got your. terminal radar approach control which is. what we've been talking about the 50 m.

Zone that handles the you know flights. leaving and coming into the airport. essentially mhm then you have the air. traffic control tower you've all seen. those yeah and everyone probably thinks. that that's all there is going on is. just the tower that's just one little. piece of the puzzle that's exactly right. that's basically like it's almost like. you can look at it as an expanded. version right sure so an airport has its. own control tower yeah a few airports. will share a traycon yeah. and then if you expand out further.

geographically you run into air Route. traffic control centers yeah and then if. you look at the United States as a whole. You've got the air traffic control. system Command Center well done thanks. it's like uh the power of 10 the EM. documentary yeah exactly like that uh. and then finally you have the flight. service station the FF uh. FSS and that um provides information for. private Pilots um flying out of like you. know Charlie Brown airport here in Decap. County yeah and if you're a small pilot.

you're um allowed to fly by um visual. flight rules which means you use your. peepers yes um and if you use your. peepers to fly you don't have to file a. flight plan and you are basically Guided. by um a flight service station right um. if you happen to fly a plane that has I. don't know like 200 people in back. you're flying what's called uh. instrument flight rules which means you. can fly in any weather yeah because. you're using radar um there's usually a.

psychic aboard who is um asked to give. uh weather predictions things like that. right um and you are directed by this. whole FAA run ball of wax like you said. this whole quote unquote FAA yeah all. right so um yeah I remember when uh. Kennedy Jr died he was um wasn't it he. was not instrument rated wasn't that the. deal oh is that right I think so I think. he was just um a visual uh VFR rated and.

they said that he shouldn't have been. flying in that weather unless he was. instrument rated yeah yeah it very sad. it was um okay so let's say you're. flying um Jacob this is Jacob Silverman. right no this is Freud rck oh it was. Silverman wrote the medical marijuana. one okay that's next or in three weeks. you never know um let's say you're. flying from New York to San Francisco. yeah there going to be seven different.

portions of that flight starting with. pre-flight and ending in your Landing. true that what's in between oh well. you've got takeoff sure you have. departure you have on Route which is uh. synonymous pretty much with cruising. sure that's my favorite time. altitude uh or Voda gimlet time for you. uh and then you have descent yeah uh. folks we have just made our initial. descent yeah wake up yeah turn off your. stuff yeah uh approach and then uh.

you've got well like you said Landing. yeah you know what else they call. descent is uh Sky Mall time oh yeah yeah. because you got to turn off all your. stuff that you're passing the time with. and all of a sudden you're like I guess. I'll read the skyall magazine i' make a. second or third concerted effort to go. back to sleep it's like hey we're 500. miles out we're making our initial. descent we're not going to be there for. another hour but I want to talk to you. yeah it's it's like yes we all sensed it. in our inner ear just go back to flying.

the plane yeah Emily gets annoyed with. The Descent that she can't get up and. pee any longer yeah well you can really. well yeah she did it in Austin got. they're you know they always say like. you should sit back down and she's like. do you want me to P over this plane. exactly you don't want that yeah yeah. but they will not move they can't move. if they if you're stuck on the the. tarmac mhm on a Runway or something yeah. and you have to get up and go to use the. bathroom if you can go the plane can't.

move because you have everybody has to. have their seat belts buckled and Yi's. held the plane up for oh. really so hey sometimes you just have to. you got to go you got to go man luckily. I've never been in that situation where. you're like you hear people saying like. I was on the tarmac for like 3 hours. yeah I would lose it man ahead and knock. on wood I would get off I would be like. they'd have to air marshall me out of. there get off oh sure you can oh all you. got to do is say the right things then. all of a sudden you're being escorted. off right but then you're off and then. off the jail uh not necessarily no I'm.

pretty sure yeah at the very least. you're going to be detained for the rest. of the day I'd rather be in jail see. that is jail sitting on a Tarmac on a. plane with all those people is jail to. me jail does not have Go magazine that's. true okay pre-flight Josh what's going. to happen here you're on your plane. you're feeling good you've orted your. drink or taken your pill you're trying. to fall asleep I I don't take pills. anymore are you good to go I am that's. nice yeah uh your pilot is going to be. um doing some important things which.

don't include drinking hopefully they're. going to be checking over your plane. yeah right uh they're going to file the. uh Flight Plan 30 minutes prior yeah. which so a flight plan I always thought. like I would never want to be a pilot. fing filing a flight plan sounds. terrible right yeah and then upon. reading this article I'm like that's the. flight plan really so basically can I. tell them what a flight plan what did. you think it was Oh I thought it was. like this detailed like chart route like. here we're going to just move to the. left just slightly and then we're going. to go up over this mountain and then.

back down yeah no a flight plan is the. airline's uh name and flight number. right um the kind of uh aircraft it is. yeah uh what you intend to fly at. altitude and speed wise sure and then um. you know which way you're. going the route yeah yeah I'm now I'm. kind of like sure I'll be a pilot yeah. that's what you got to do really I don't. think I'd want to to log that kind of. travel. well no of course you wouldn't um and.

the reason that they it is probably that. minimal is because they want the pilot. to be flying the plane and concentrating. on that while the men and women in the. control centers handle all the other. stuff right like we'll get into right. now. [Music]. yeah. [Music].

so you've got the uh flight data person. who says hey this flight plan looks. pretty good M I'm going to print out a. strip that has to do with um you know. your well basically I think there's like. 21 different little uh pieces of. information oh really yeah that any air. traffic controller can look at at and. say oh uh based on this this guy should.

be here right now okay if anything. happen so the flight um the the flight. progress strip is what it when you have. a flight like it's it stays with your. flight the whole time it gets passed off. between person and person and changed as. needed yes and this is all to begin with. filed with the uh FAA host computer so. before they can do anything it's got to. be in the main frame well the host. computer is the one that gives that. spits out the the progress okay so they. F the flight plan and then it spits out. the route yeah probably like oh you're.

going this route well then this. weather's here and you got to look out. for ducks over here and that kind of. thing you know yeah and another thing I. learned too there are U regular. ascending and descending corridors that. I think they just are typical for that. airport not typical but used for that. airport yeah so they're not just like. hey why don't you fly out this way today. yeah it's really neat if you fly into. Hartsfield here in Atlanta yeah uh. world's busiest airport um. when you're flying when you're coming in.

for a landing yeah there's a whole row. that stretches back for 10 miles of. planes that are coming in right behind. you that's the corridor yeah and but if. you look over to your left or your right. there's like three or four of them at. any given time three or four of these. lines of planes all flying into. Hartsfield yeah I didn't realize they. lined them up like that but when they're. coming you got 10 planes coming in. you're just like all right get in line. yeah and there's a certain the coridor. you you come in at a certain altitude.

like a certain Corridor is like oh you. come in at this altitude a different. Corridor comes in at a higher altitude. it's it's all very exact yes thank God. this is good uh so you you have your. approved uh Flight Plan you've got your. little progress uh strip and your flight. data person's going to say clearance. delivery and the Pilot's going to finish. up his drink uh or her drink you think. that's so funny don't you I do and. they're going to give that strip to the. ground controller in the tower so now. the ground controller is in possession.

of of your of your. junk right because that's how they get. Pilots to land to ensure that they're. going to come back is by hanging under. their junk while they're gone that's. right uh they are responsible for the. ground traffic uh taxing all that stuff. making sure planes in that huge parking. lot down there aren't running into each. other yeah that seems like a that's a. that's a big one oh yeah the ground. controller might have the most frenetic. drop because maybe so everybody else.

it's like here's a plane that's landing. and yes you have to keep up with the. distance between other planes and you're. managing several planes but you're. managing them in a corridor right this. guy's got like all sorts of crazy stuff. going on with planes trying to get out. and get into the runway system and. especially at a Hearts field yeah yeah. like you can't just say yeah just go. ahead and pull across Runway 10 there to. Runway 12 and you'll be fine you got to. make sure there's nothing yeah taxing. around under Landing obviously and I. believe the ground controller is one of.

only two air traffic controllers that. are allowed to use. binoculars the local controller and the. ground controller are the only ones that. you can use binoculars which is pretty. cool like these guys strike me as like. early NASA dudes who like put put men on. the moon right you know what I mean like. they wear like uh short button- down. yellow shirts with brown ties and like. they have big forearms and like maybe. they have vaguely like military haircuts. those are the guys like Ed Harris and. Apollo 13 that's who I was describing.

yeah okay sorry uh so you're taxing to. the runway the ground controller is. watching all this stuff um this is all. transmitted by radio initially and like. they say all right get on channel. whatever 13 Mr pilot or Mrs pilot and we. will direct you to the or M pilot M. excuse me and we will direct you to the. correct uh. Runway right and then I will pass that. off to the local controller here now is. now this plane is yours and the local. controller is the one who is keeping an.

eye on distances between planes and um. basically making sure that the sky is. clear for takeoff they're in the tower. yep yeah and they're the ones who say. pilot you are clear for takeoff and the. pilot says okay but I'm going to check. myself first looks both ways and goes. okay and when the Pilot's ready the. Pilot Powers up and lifts off and you've. got the local controller hanging on to. the that particular flight yeah um while.

of course managing other flights as well. um for I think five miles out but before. they reach that Five Mile point the. local controller and now so we're. leaving the um the control tower at the. airport and we're expanding out to Tron. yeah as they hand off to a uh radio. controller at Tron the departure. controller I believe all right so now. we're in the air we are uh on Route and. you have to if you're a pilot activ at. your transponder which will um basically.

make you the little blip on the radar. very important thing to do yeah that's. that's how they can follow you as you. move across the country or around the. world right you are covering all bases. on this episode well your little blip is. going to um obviously represent your. plane and it's going to have your flight. number your altitude your air speed and. your. destination and uh so where are we now. it's also how they find you if you go. plummeting into the ocean or the Earth.

sure is that the Black Box uh I think. that's probably a part of the. transponder okay yeah um so the. departure controllers at Tron may be. handling a few different airports many. many planes and uh they also are the. ones maintaining good safe distances. which is very important that's pretty. much um because of the increase in. congestion in air traffic over the last. like 40 years yeah um that's like job.

one of any air traffic controller is you. have so many planes basically you want. to keep them evenly spaced sure. following these prescribed corridors. yeah and um if you can do that then you. can do this safely that's right so what. do you what do we have where are we on. Route yet are we uh yeah once you leave. the Tron airspace which is the 50 miles. then they pass you off to the center. controller which is artcc y. and um so we're expanding out again.

expanding out and it's important to note. every time you get passed along they're. going to pass along an updated progress. slip that says yeah we thought they were. going to be actually about 50 Mi uh. further west yeah but because of bad. weather whatever we altered their flight. path and so here's what you need to know. right or um they were uh they hit some. headwind so they're a little further. back they's hauling butt through the air. yep which are my favorite flights and so. these guys in the um the radar associate.

controller and the radar controller yeah. at the uh air Route traffic control. centers the rural ones the regional ones. they um are the ones who say Well. they're just tracking your plane. throughout its flight right but then. they're also directing it to say um like. there is some weather up ahead there's. some turbulence we advise you to. increase your altitude um and then as. they pass through air traffic air Route. traffic control center after Air route. Traffic Control Center um your plane is.

just going to be passed off from One. controller to another here you go Bobby. right thanks Jimmy I wonder what they. say I think that's what they say I don't. think that's what they say no it's. probably a little more technical than. that um and then there's also a radar. handoff controller and they assist the. uh the two other controllers when. there's a lot of heavy traffic they'll. they'll come in and say hey let me let. me lighten the load here a little bit. which is significant so you you got. three controllers all working together. two of them are assisting the radar.

controller you have the radar associate. controller who alerts the radar. controller they have new stuff and then. the radar handoff controller is. basically just looking over both their. shoulders like don't forget that one. right oh that's a big one yeah I like. that one that's red look out that one's. going right towards that one right. exactly yeah yeah let's hope that. doesn't happen very often no remember. that was in pushing tin though very. tense well because they were all a. flitter over in Ang and Jolie oh is that. what caused that yeah they weren't.

paying attention to their jobs gotcha. cuz they were concentrating on that leg. it's like bold. Durham Emily was just watching that. today in her sick bed weird yeah it's. very weird good movie all right so this. is all going on until you're about 150. Mi out um from your destination and then. the center controller will uh jump on. board and do what you were talking about. earlier and get everyone coming in in a. nice tidy little line Y for landing. like from 10 miles out like when you. were 10 miles away from the airport no.

this is 150 mil out oh okay they they. start to get them in line so then you. haven't hit Tron airspace yet have you. no that's the next stop as you go back. into someone else's Tron following these. prescribed corridors and these things. are not just like easy straight lines. like they're really you know how like. when you fly up you're like wait we're. going the wrong way and then your pilot. Banks hard and then you go back that's a. corridor and wa yeah they curve like. that corridors to it's really neat um.

and we should mention too if there's. something wrong and it's too congested. or your Runway is uh is not working like. the lights are off like an airplane yeah. uh they will put you in the in the. dreaded holding pattern yeah which is. not hey just fly around up there for a. while it's specific to each airport you. know what the holding pattern is and you. stay there yeah and I I think it's isn't. it like a big circle or it does it vary. pretty much pretty much. all right so now you are within uh 50.

miles tron's got a hold of you again um. they are advising the pilot on heading. speed altitude and then when you're 10. miles out the approach controller passes. you back to the local controller and. it's all just a big glorious dance yep. and then you land and the local. controller says hey uh go out this way. and you do and the ground controller. takes over and then you you are directed. via the ground controller to your gate.

and that's it and then once you get to. the gate obviously you have the uh the. men and women with the orange. flashlights they are Airline employees. not FAA I did not realize that until I. read this once I read it I was like oh. yeah they're all wearing like Delta Air. train or something like that so true all. right so I know you want to be an air. traffic controller Josh how would you go. about that well I would go uh study very. hard at school and earn a bachelor's. degree foryear degree which you don't.

need oh or you could work somewhere for. 3 years yeah it's actually one of the. higher paying jobs you can get without a. college degree they say nice Chuck yeah. um I would also probably focus on my um. spatial Vis V spatial visualization yeah. uh skills so I could visualize things in. three dimensions yeah work on your. concentration I'm doing it right now. is that what you were doing yeah it's so.

creepy uh like we said you were employed. by the FAA and you have to apply through. the federal civil uh civil service. system pass a test that is I read an. article from a guy that was on Wall. Street very stressful job and he decided. I'm going to go be an air traffic. controller CU I just I dig this stuff. yeah and uh he said the test is timed. and very very hard so they want to put. the pressure on you oh it should be and. the clock is ticking good good yeah uh. 3D uh spatial visual uh visualization on.

the exam reasoning abstract reasoning. it's like it's tough stuff yeah so they. say all right you can be a trainee. you're going to move to Oklahoma City. for seven months and not many of you are. going to make it through training we're. going to call the majority of you right. so know that going in yep you might not. get through right because they want the. cream of the crop but then let's say you. did and then what happens. then you go uh you know you walk up in.

front of an airport with your resume I'm. here and say can I start Landing flights. yeah um pretty much you uh you start. working and then uh I guess to become uh. certain kinds of air traffic controllers. right like I think tron's um or the uh. air Route traffic control centers the. regional ones um you have to be. certified yeah for each little different. job yeah yeah yeah and then as you get. better and better you move up and up and.

then all of a sudden you realize like. you're the president of the United. States uh you can make uh the average. starting pay 28 bucks an hour is that. right not bad so it's not salaried huh. uh well it gets to be salaried a certain. point I think um is the average starting. pay yeah that's good money yeah it is uh. and uh controllers can earn um up to and. over 100,000 per year after just a few. years they say wellow but you're going. to be working long shift duties you're. going to be working on Christmas maybe.

working from Midnight to 8:00 a.m. sometimes it's midnight to 6 it's. intensely stressful what do you mean mid. not that's a that's a shift Oh I thought. they were eight hour shifts I think. they're six hour shifts oh they' cut. that back then which is good yeah. because one of the things in 1981 when. they went on strike they were lobbying. for was reduced shift. hours well what happened when they all. went on. strike do you know about this or you. being COI I mean vaguely uh well they.

went on strike in August uh and they. wanted better wages they wanted a. 32-hour work week CU remember these are. FAA employees yeah so they're federal. civil servants which is a big problem. because you're not allowed to go on. strike if you're a union Federal Union. uh member is that right yeah so they. violated the law uh Ronald Reagan. President Ronald Reagan ordered them. back to work said you got to go back to. work right now that was that I didn't. even drive to do Reagan you should try. it. again no do Nixon doing Reagan no no uh.

only 1300 of the 13,000 went back to. work he says you've got 48 Hours nice. that was much better and then uh in 48. hours uh they uh did not come back to. work and he says you know what all. 11,000 plus of you are fired 11,700 by. me yeah the president I'm firing all of. you so crazy and he did yeah and they. had to cut the flights back to 50% for a.

while and uh they were also banned from. any federal service for life but Clinton. rescinded that and then uh they say it. took a full decade to restore the. program back to its original Staffing. numbers wow that's crazy although they. got up and running and you know doing. the best they can within a few years. seems a little rash but the gier sent. his message that ain't what you want. striking man no I agree but wow yeah. you're all fired yeah uh and I thought. it was uh always one of the top.

stressful jobs but the list of 2012. doesn't have it in the top 10 really. well let's hear that list you want to. hear it yeah uh number 10 cab driver wow. yeah okay don't go this way go that way. don't take third take fourth what are. you doing stupid cabbie don't you take. credit cards that's more stressful than. air traffic control I don't know uh. number nine photo journalist I guess in. you know War torn countries right sure. yeah. um or on Safari those are dangerous too.

that's true uh number eight CEO like big. corporate EXA number seven PR executive. double really yeah who made this list uh. it's the list I don't know who makes it. all right um number six event. coordinator like a wedding planners and. stuff like that yeah it's stressful you. got to deal with those crazy. Bridezillas no Jerry Snicker did that. okay um number five cop of course. yeah number four Army general or. military General this thing was put.

together by a six-year-old boy and girl. combination I'll bet it was originally. written in craye number three cowboy no. you're kidding I'm kidding number three. number three is actually airline pilot. number two is firefighter and number one. is enlisted. Soldier yeah so there you have it no air. traffic control which I think is a bit. hky I think that list is hinky I do too. podcasters know on there sure I'm so. stressed out right now that's got to be.

top. [Music]. 15 um you got anything else I don't oh. we already talked about the. movies uh mention the article's author.

yeah I think we're good uh if you want. to know more about Air Traffic Control. you can type that into the search bar at. House of works.com you can also listen. to the companion piece uh to this. episode how air traffic control works at. Tech stuff their episode is called how. traffic control works check it out oh. they did one see who did it better I'm. sure they did I believe they did okay um. and and I think in there somewhere I. said search bar handy search bar or the.

like so it's time for listener mail I. know this because Chuck has it in his. own. [Music]. hand yeah I'm going to call this one um. our listener ratted us out to Michael. Moore did you see this this just came in. oh no awesome remember in the Tipping. podcast we said Michael Moore reportedly. was a bad Tipper some people wrote in. and and uh verified their with their own. stories too not about Michael Moore. though did they yeah oh really oh yeah. well tell me that first I didn't see. that one I I'm not at Liberty to divulge.

this but I can tell you that at least. two other people have said like yeah. that guy is not only not a good Tipper. he's not like he's not he's not all that. yes wow all right well I felt bad for a. half a second because um Ian uh of. Brooklyn New York tweeted Michael Moore. asked about his tipping habits um by. saying this hey did you know the guy. stuff you should from stuff you should. know called you out as a notoriously bad. Tipper last week Say It Ain't So So he.

totally ratted us out um and then. Michael Moore uh direct messaged him. back and said haha no but I'll add that. to all the great fiction I've collected. about myself for the record I always. leave between 25 and 33% that is that is. in the face of what we've been hearing. we got to clear this up somehow I know. and then I felt bad cuz I didn't see. those other emails I said Hey listen. dude tell tell Michael Moore that we. were we were sort of uh suspicious about.

this and that we'll clear it all up on. the show but I guess we just did we just. muddied the water even further and Ian. of Brooklyn said can I also hear Chuck. reenact his exasperated. what it's had me cracking up all week so. there you have it. what that was a pretty lame Reen act. what's he looking for Josh um what no. something along those lines what which a. what H there it is okay that's that's. kind of yours to begin with but actually.

it was Fred Willard's to begin wasn't it. oh uh from best and. show no I got it from The Simpsons oh. okay MO sylac is really good at what ah. that guy yeah he's good um so I guess. that's it yeah Michael. Moore good Tipper or not we shall never. know yeah we'd like to hear from you if. you happen to listen to this um if it's. cool with you we'll just show up and. follow you around with the camera for a. week and watch you tip but don't try to.

put on any show for us okay 33% I. thought that was a little Inky Chu Chuck. is uh Chuck is mentioning our tweet uh. our Twitter handle sysk podcast man that. was just grammatically all over the. place wasn't it sure uh you can follow. us on Twitter by following our Twitter. handle sysk podcast you can also check. us out on Facebook at. facebook.com and uh if you you know what.

I'm sure everybody has a crazy plane. flight plane story flight story so just. come up with something other than that. uh you can email us at stuff podcast at. iHeart. radio.com stuff you should know is a. production of iHeart radio for more. podcasts myart radio visit the iHeart. Radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you. listen to your favorite shows.