Beginnings.
I started as an air traffic controller at the international
airport Bratislava-Ivanka in October 1960. For a few months I worked at the
tower, and in January 1961, I joined the group of budding air traffic
controllers in Prague, who were there in the course that started back in
August 1960. After the course I was placed to the Area Air Traffic Control Centre
in Bratislava. The airport towers were responsible for the air traffic around
the airports (Bratislava, Piešt'any, Sliač, Poprad and Košice) to about 30
kilometres diameter, and to 3000 metres height. The Area ATC was responsible
for the air traffic over the entire territory of Slovakia, with the exception
of the airport areas.
People in the course were “from the streets”, i.e. without any
experience in aviation. The personnel at the Area Control Centre were similar;
a few of them used to work previously as telegraph operators.
Pictured below are the students at the air traffic control course at the airport Prague-Ruzyně in 1960-61:
Front row l-r: Janáč (standing with
briefcase), Hajdin, Šibík, Chlán, Múdry, Vadovič, Hurtík.
Rear row l-r: Mieszczak (with briefcase),
Krigler, ??, Mikuš, Verner, Štefáček, ??, ??, Košan, Chudomel, ??, Hatvani (hidden
behind the cap), ??, Zeman, ??, Komínek, ??, ??
Missing from this picture, as far as I remember: Drgo, Horňák, Šimurka a Vechter, all from Slovakia.
About half of us were from Slovakia (apart from one
the entire front row, plus a few in the rear). The lecturers in the course were
Czechs, and I was able to observe certain communication problem. The Slovakians
from along the border with the Czech part of the country, or those who spent
some time in the Czech environment were familiar with the Czech language. As to
me, Czech language was my mother’s tongue. The remainder of Slovakians,
especially those from central and eastern Slovakia, understood Czech language
but scantily. All the textbooks and literature provided to us were written in the
Czech language. The Slovaks were lagging in discussions, where they were viewed
as somewhat backward, especially because they were trying to speak slowly and
distinctly to make their Czech brethren to understand better.
At the time the country received new president,
Antonín Novotný, until then secretary of the ruling communist party. Being
Czech he was not kindly received by the Slovakians in our course, who were
expecting the Slovakian prime minister, Viliam Široký, to receive the (largely ceremonial)
post. Knowing about Široký enough to be sceptical about his ability I kept my
cool. When working as a land surveyor I spent half a day in the villa of Široký family in Bratislava, where I heard
many an unpleasant thing about this black sheep of the family (and also from
Gustl, my aide at the time); therefore, Novotný was to me more acceptable than Široký, although these communist apparatchiks
were all tarred by the same brush.
In the following years I heard similar complaints
about the Czech language from the new graduates of the courses in Prague, and I
began to promote the idea of organising such courses in Slovakia, and in
Slovakian language. I was experienced enough, for I was running similar courses
for pilots at the aero club of Vajnory, and in similar subjects: in about 1966
we ran one such course at the airport of Ivanka, where I lectured in about five
subjects.
I realised almost immediately that the task was a bit
beyond our ability, both professionally and organisationally – for instance, in
those days it was almost impossible to copy any written material. I tried to ask
for help elsewhere.
I tried to enlist help from my former Alma Mater: in
1961-63 I studied briefly part-time at the Transport university in Žilina. The course was called Economy and
Management of Air Transport (or similar). As it consisted of studying Soviet
methods of such management, I ceased attending; it was worthless and waste of
time. I wrote a letter to the Dean of my old faculty, outlining our efforts and
our problems, with a plea for help. Two weeks after posting the letter I asked
his secretary for an audience with him.
I did not get very far, for he chased me away from his
doorstep with loud abuses: such a poor student had the temerity to annoy Him
with something so outrageous!
As well, in my humble opinion at the time, I thought
that air traffic controllers should possess some practical experience of
flying. When I settled down in the office, I began talking some pilots from my
aero club to apply for the positions of air traffic controllers. We gained for
the ATC (and for the Ivanka Tower as well, I think) some 12 powered airplanes
pilots. I honestly tried to evaluate each and every of them for their aptitude
for the job, but some of them eventually turned out not to be up to the task,
and either dropped out, or toiled valiantly at something that was a little
beyond their ability. It seemed to me that an air traffic controller needs to
be in possession of something more, and that “something” was for me difficult
to define. After the first ten I refrained from trying to rope a few more in.
Here are some of those from the first “batch”, whom I
managed to get to my office at the Area Control Centre Bratislava. They were
excellent pilots, and they turned out to be excellent air traffic controllers
as well:
They are the third, fourth and fifth from the left: Laco Žemla, Karolko Žilinský and Ivan Weiss. First from
the left is Švancar,
a glider pilot, on the extreme right is Groh; second from left is Ivan Pucher,
a gifted and quality pilot. I was thinking of getting him as well, but for some
reasons it did not happen.
Ivan Weiss is retired after many years as professional
pilot, and still flies on occasions with his son, a captain on B737 with the
Czech Airlines. Laco and Karolko are dead: Lacko was killed during aerobatic at Očová,
Karolko during landing his air taxi L-200 at Sliač in difficult weather
conditions – may the Heaven of Airmen be kind to you, friends!
In the next article I'll make an attempt to explain the
ins and outs of the air traffic control at the time.
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