The women who keep our skies safe

In busy airports such as Delhi and Mumbai, ATCs have to handle some 40 flight movements every hour, during peak time. The pressure is so great that they’re relieved of duty temporarily every one-and-a-half hours. And women have been making a dent here. Though women ATCOs in civilian airports have been around for some two decades, their percentage is small — around 8%. They are also found in the Indian Navy and were inducted there first in 1992.
So how difficult is it for a woman to handle such a high-pressure job? All women ATCOs STOI spoke to conceded it wouldn’t have been possible without the support of their husbands. After all, it’s a job with constant shifts, transfers and training. Some are even married to ATCOs, making it doubly difficult.
“But the challenge is worth all these hiccups,” says Anita, an ATCO. None wanted to be identified for obvious reasons. “I wanted a job where I would need to apply my mind. No other job is as mentally challenging.” But it’s been tough for this mother of two — a 12-year-old son and a six-year-old daughter. “My husband, fortunately, has regular working hours and with his help and servants, we manage. But if I get transferred, I will have to rethink my options as my kids are small. But it’s not easy to let go of a job which fetches me around Rs 30,000 a month.”
Transfers happen after five years.
Some like Leena are married to ATCOs. Says her husband Kumar, “I feel proud to have such a capable wife. We both work in different shifts so that our child always has one parent at home. He has the best of both worlds. But we can’t go out anywhere together without first checking our office schedules. Fortunately, we’re both posted in the same stations.”
Says Mahesh, an ATCO, “Women ATCOs are extremely competent, though working in shift duties can take a toll on them.” The shifts, incidentally, are morning, afternoon (both six hours each) and night (12 hours).
As for whether they show their emotional side in such stressful circumstances, he says, “We ATCOs talk to pilots in standard language and rarely have normal conversations with them. It’s pretty cut and dry.” Adds a commander of a private airline, “Some women ATCOs are excellent. But gender doesn’t matter here. But yes, I would say we male pilots behave ourselves when we talk to a woman ATCO, unlike a male one with whom there’s some chance of getting into an argument.” So much for woman power!
15/06/08 Shobha John/Times of India