Dear Air Traffic Controllers who feel MedEvac's have to be afforded Priority Handling "Traffic or Workload Permitting",
Per the 7110.65 Section 2-1-4, Our Second Operational Duty Priority DIRECTIVE, Not OPTION states...
"Provide air traffic control service to aircraft on a “first come, first served” basis as circumstances permit, except the following:"
"b. Provide priority to civilian air ambulance flights (call sign MEDEVAC). Use of the MEDEVAC call
sign indicates that operational priority is requested. When verbally requested, provide priority to AIR EVAC,
HOSP, and scheduled air carrier/air taxi flights. Assist the pilots of MEDEVAC, AIR EVAC and HOSP
aircraft to avoid areas of significant weather and turbulent conditions. When requested by a pilot, provide
notifications to expedite ground handling of patients, vital organs, or urgently needed medical materials.
NOTE-
It is recognized that heavy traffic flow may affect the controller's ability to provide priority handling. However, without
compromising safety, good judgment must be used in each situation to facilitate the most expeditious movement of a
MEDEVAC aircraft"
It's not an "Additional Service" (which isn't optional itself either). It's a directive.
It's not an option "traffic permitting", It's a requirement.
The only Aircraft in the sky who has priority over a MedEvac per Sub Paragraph A of the same Operational Priority is...
"a. An aircraft in distress has the right of way over all other air traffic."
If you don't have one of those then guess what? MedEvac's are PEOPLE in distress.
No matter how many people they block checking on, no matter how rude, inconsiderate, demanding or obstinate that pilot is or can be, you have a Duty.. an Obligation... and above all else a Moral Responsibility to bend over backwards for the Medical Field employing the service of that Plane (whatever the type, or cargo, may be)...
You have a Responsibility to the Donor who gave their life to provide their LIFE CRITICAL Organs...
to the family who lost that donor to have not lost them in vain...
to the Patient waiting in a hospital bed (critical or not)...
and to the family sitting by their bedside hoping for their speedy recovery.
YOU ARE A PUBLIC SERVANT. THEY ARE YOUR CUSTOMERS.
Without Controllers, Pilots can still fly. Without Pilots, we're out of a job.
We exist to facilitate their movement. Yet you yell from your arm chair about how inconvenient it was to have them block you.
I wonder how many muscles you actually had to use when the two Lear pilots blocked someone? I'm sure it was detrimental to the operation of your sector.
We as Controllers Mass Coordinate Military Ops, Negative RVSM A/C, Special Interest Flights, Emergencies and even the ever so disruptive Photo Missions without question. Yet I've never seen one ounce of effort by a supervisor or the FAA as an organization to pre-coordinate expeditious handling for MedEvac's. It's all up to the controller who had the stones to say clear direct. All the while knowing the next Primadonna's gonna flip out cause OMG he's not following a typical route and I'm actually going to have to earn my pay for 45 minutes (or less).
You're paid $130,000+ a year to provided that service, IF, WHEN, and EVERY time without question. NO MATTER WHAT the circumstance. How dare we as controllers sit in our climate controlled environment and play Arm Chair Jesus because it'll be "a pain in the rear" to actually WORK for our pay for the 45 minutes it's going to take that LIFE CRITICAL flight to transition our airspace.
OMG he disrupted our frequency by OMG... BLOCKING another pilot. Get over it and do your job. It takes a split second to say "calling center, say again." It's part of the job. They're going to block each other. They're not going to listen.
Let me whisper your name in a crowded room and when you don't answer me immediately I'll berate you. When you talk to me at the same time as someone else I'll chastise you. And when you have to key up and ask me to provide the service I'm paid, fundamentally ORDERED to and should have done before you asked me to because someone is dying or has already died somewhere, I'll get back to you... Traffic Permitting.
You're trained for years to break your back for pilots during thunderstorms, insane traffic pushes, military missions, misc special ops & when emergencies happen we double or triple our efforts. Yet the MedEvac's are considered a pain in the rear because we don't treat them like what they are... Life Saving Ambulances in the sky! No different than the one's rolling down the street.
It's absolutely appalling that from the hospital to the airport it's an Emergency and you'll pull over when the red lights flash. And from the airport back to the hospital it's an Emergency and you'll pull to the side. But from the airport to the airport they're just another slow King Air, Citation or impatient Lear Jet that isn't afforded the same courtesy that the red and blue lights give them on the ground. Well guess what, that POS King Air costs more than your house!
So continue to sit in your office chair, in your temperature controlled environment, drinking your drink, eating your food, conversing with your co-workers, getting paid over a dollar a minute to complain about how inconsiderate the two MedEvac's were to your day. And while you're at it try not to think about how important your actions can be to the family awaiting whatever precious MedEvac cargo has to follow Southwest, or American or that Suit in his business jet because you wouldn't do the right thing and make them pull to the right while the Emergency responder slow or fast as he may be... Goes First. The Airlines make BILLIONS. Lives are PRICELESS. Last I checked, FedEx, UPS, Civilian & Military alike ALL pull over for an Ambulance. It's time they followed suit in the sky as well.
I'm pretty sure if you we're losing blood that you can't drive your car in a straight line to the hospital at 90mph but that slow piece of junk helicopter or Skylane that's in the way of all the arrivals & departures can.
So to sum it up...
Level 12 SoCal ATC Pay $130,000+
New Cessna 172... $300,000+
New King Air... $3,000,000+
New Lear Jet... $13,000,000+
New Citation... $22,000,000+
Bending over backwards (from a chair in a temperature controlled environment while waiting to be up for a break) all to provide priority handling (which is your JOB) in the name of easing pain &/or saving lives...
PRICELESS
