Vectors to Spare: Life of an Atc-93

I found this book at the local library and picked it up on a whim. It's very good, and I highly recommend it if you can find a copy. Like another reviewers said, it doesn't include details about how air traffic control is done, but instead paints a picture about what it's like to BE a controller, particularly in the 80s before and after PATCO's strike. There are some great near-miss stories and tales about eccentric controllers that are some of my favorite parts of the book.

This book is so down-to-earth filled with hair-raising and hilarious tales. He explains technical things in layman's terms.Excellent!

This book is very insightful in the fact that it gives the reader a good idea of the types of people air traffic controllers are. Furthermore, it has real life examples of airplane "conflicts" and definately shows why this job has been rated as the most stressful in the world.

It's like sitting around in his living room, as he recounts story after story about personalities and the ups and downs of being an air traffic controller. While giving some very interesting information about how air traffic is controlled, the book is more about people; the people that succeed and fail as air traffic controllers. Of particular interest are the sections devoted to the 1981 PATCO strike, and the acrimony leading up to it. Of less interest appeared to be the stories about what a great guy X was, or what a jerk Y was, but in retrospect, these stories serve as useful pieces in the overall picture of what it is like to work as a controller.I recommend this book to anyone interested in gaining an understanding of a very special job and the people that do it. If you are interested in learning the nitty gritty of how controllers do their work, or in riveting prose, then you had best look elsewhere.

This book has become by far the best book relating to aviation, especially for the 1980's. I really liked this book, finding it hard to put down throughout the rest of my high school oriented life. I am an avid aviator as well as my father, and my uncle is a terminal Air Traffic Controller in Chicago. All three of us eventually read this book and we all really liked the way it depicts not only ATC-ers but also what a business working day with aviation is like. I, myself, am looking into aviation as a career and I made my mother read this. Afterward, she had a much bigger insight on the organized confusion which consumes the aviation community across the country. If you have any questions - please email me.