Controllers who use "break" regularly aren't good controllers.
To answer your question: he probably had no idea who should read back what.
Wow.... This is a little naive. Using a transmission break is no more indicative of skill level as a clearance for takeoff without delay or immediately.. How it's used might hold a little weight and add to your point but the OP didn't post nearly enough background information to make that sort of assumption. A frequency break is as valuable a tool as anything else. Hopefully you wouldn't judge a controller so irrationally when soliciting a short approach. They are technically doing the same thing, buying time from the future.
A frequency break might allow me to issue an IFR clearance instead of idly waiting to make a transmission just because someone is "about" to have a departure slot on the runway. Or maybe I can issue an efficient departure release now instead of waiting 15 seconds so I can keep from blowing someone through final. In which case waiting to issue the release so I can turn on final in 15 seconds indicates a lack of skill, not the other way around. It's all in how you use it. Obviously if you "regularly" break because you realize that a higher priority duty is due and you forgot about it, that would indicate a lack of skill but the fact that you broke a transmission doesn't indicate in the least that skill is in short supply.
Also, to those of you talking about "the busiest airports".... You should know that just because you have a lot of airplanes around you doesn't mean that the controllers are the busiest.. I work at MKG ATCT/TRACON and we're slow 80% of the time.. 10% of the time we're moderately busy which equates to the work load that a controller might be under at a "busiest" airport.... 10% of the time there are more tasks than time at the end of the minute and buying seconds is a necessity. When you count the airplanes though, it can seem a lot less busy but when the controller is working Flight Data, Clearance, Ground, Local, and CIC the fact is, no controller at JFK will ever be as busy as a controller at a slower facility with all of the combined positions. If you want to argue about that, then go talk to TMU at any of these "busiest" airports and find out what their job is. It's to ensure that controllers don't get over worked. The controllers are often limited to 7-9 aircraft, of which they're only actively talking to a couple and don't have the need to tend other positions.
In no way am I saying that I work harder or stay busier than anyone else but I do know that there are times that it's everything I can do to keep everyone moving. We feed EAA Airventure Oshkosh and there are times that I'm servicing 20-25 aircraft at the same time and the guy next to me is doing the same thing.. Transmission breaks... nuff said..
Hopefully I didn't ruffle too many feathers but I seriously take offense.
Edit: Also, I expect the last person that I talked to to respond as I won't break a high priority transmission to talk to a low priority aircraft.
