My Dad The Air Traffic Controller

My father has been an Air Traffic Controller at the Philadelphia International Airport since 1985 when I was four years old. This may explain all of the beatings I received from him while I was growing up, given that it’s the second most stressful job in the world. After all those years of therapy I finally came to a point where I was ready to sit down and pick his brain about crashes, drugs and his early years as a controller. I hope he still loves me..

Vice: So Old Man, why did you choose one of, if not the most, stressful professions a man in his twenties can have?

John Sharkey Jr.:

You were hired around the time that Ronald Reagan fired all of the Air Traffic Controllers for striking. What was the political climate in your field like at that time and did that make it easier for you to get the job?

When you started your training in the Air Force, did anyone of your instructors go into the fact that you might one day crash a plane and kill hundreds of people?

Have you or anyone you know ever caused a plane accident while on the job?

How do you feel about Travis Barker and DJ AM’s private Lear Jet crashing last week?

Do you like their music?

You were working on September 11th, 2001. How was that for a controller to handle?

Ok, enough death, have you seen the movie Pushing Tin and was it a realistic portrayal of an Air Traffic Controller lifestyle?

So what about drugs? I know you work hellacious hours, something like 11PM to 7AM. Have you or any of your workers gotten into drugs to stay awake.

Have you ever seen a UFO?

Thanks, Dad.