Making sense of chaos in the skies

Going from waitress to air traffic controller (ATC) is quite a leap, but Ballito’s Roanda Steyn says it was the perfect preparation for the stress of directing airplanes.

The 33-year-old is an ATC at King Shaka International, responsible for every movement (arrival, departure or flyover) that planes make in a 90km radius of King Shaka as well as those over Richard’s Bay, Virginia airport and Pietermaritzburg.

“I knew I wanted to be an ATC in the week leading up to my matric exams,” said Steyn, who matriculated at High School Fichardt Park in Bloemfontein.

“My mom and I were on the school field where the army and air force were putting on a big show. Next thing we knew a soldier had come leopard crawling between the two of us and there were just planes everywhere in the sky – I said to myself: ‘somewhere, someone is making sense of all the chaos’.”

Steyn said being a waiter helped prepare her for the stress of an ATC by teaching her how to multi-task and deal with sudden emergencies.

In order to become an ATC you must complete a 13-week course comprising 13 subjects which, according to Steyn, is equal to what medical students go through in their first year.

Thereafter you will get your first rating as a tower assistant, then comes a whole series of work placements for practical experience and further courses to up your rating until you finally qualify.

She advised high school students with this dream to take maths, science and English as subjects.

“Becoming fully qualified can take anywhere from six to eight years.

“I was lucky to be in the right time and place so that I completed mine in four years, four months and four days – now four is my lucky number.”

Steyn told The Courier her biggest pet peeve on the job was student pilots.

“It is quite funny actually, they get completely turned around but are too ashamed to talk to the tower and say ‘I’m lost’. Which is ironic because I can clearly see on my screen they are lost.”

According to Steyn, waking up in the middle of the night after a crash nightmare is part and parcel of the job.

“My worst memory was when we had a mercy flight coming in and we had to arrange for emergency services to be ready and waiting right on the landing strip because the pilot had said their patient would die if he had to wait.

“When they landed though, the pilot came on the line and said the man had died during the landing,” said a clearly distressed Steyn with tears in her eyes.

The first crash landing she ever had to deal with was also a very frightening experience.

“It was a plane taking off out of Virginia. They had just got airborne when they lost the engine and went down on Durban’s North Beach. I watched all this happening on my screen and I had no idea what to do, who to call or what the next step was.

“Next thing I knew the phone in the tower rang and when I picked up it was the pilot calling to say ‘Roanda, I am OK’.”

Of course, it is not all doom and gloom as Steyn says there is quite a bit of joking, cheeky comments and hilarious ‘whoopsies’ over the lines.

She recalled an incident where she was directing planes onto a runway and was uncertain if they had made their own turn or if they wanted her to direct them when to turn.

“I ended up asking him: ‘Sir, will you be turning yourselves on or would you like me to turn you on?’ which of course led to much hilarity and the story quickly spread. They still tease me about it to this day.”

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