Exciting times and more progress The first decade after the change of the political system in Hungary brought home the realization that Hungarians had a peculiar interpretation of democracy. Instead of making use of opportunities, they immediately started abusing them. They interpreted freedom as being a license to do anything with laws being just a… Continue reading The tower with a soul… 15.
Tag: Ferihegy
The tower with a soul… 14.
Finally, real progress For this chapter I had to solicit a bit of outside help. It looked like I too remembered old memories better than recent ones. Misi Kurucz was kind enough to help me by sketching the most important events in the life of the tower that came to pass during his tenure as… Continue reading The tower with a soul… 14.
The tower with a soul… 13
Ten years on the job Ten years on the job! I can say that the first ten years passed quickly but on occasion time seemed to be crawling. Under the previous protocols, someone with a 10 year old license would have already made it to approach control. I read somewhere not so long ago that… Continue reading The tower with a soul… 13
The tower with a soul… 12
From shared lunches to more restrictions As the years passed and we approached the tenth anniversary of being on the job, contact with other colleagues of my age group tapered off. Some of them went to other shifts or even other control units and this did not help of course. But on the few occasions… Continue reading The tower with a soul… 12
A tower with a soul…11
Small planes, small airports The change of political system in Hungary was the main driver behind the presence of an increasing number of small aircraft, more and more people chose this way to visit the country. Since there was only one international airport, Ferihegy in Budapest, every plane had to land there to complete the… Continue reading A tower with a soul…11
The tower with a soul… 9
Parties then and now As I said earlier, the tower was standing in the middle of the prairie. This was both an advantage and a disadvantage. Very little of the dirt and mud throwing that went on in the main building actually reached the tower. At the same time most decisions were made without our… Continue reading The tower with a soul… 9
The tower with a soul… 7
The great escape and some unintended consequences With the future of the tower work no longer being really promising, a lot of the younger guys “escaped”, some of them going all the way to Canada! When three of them left within weeks of each other, we had no other choice but to reorganize the shifts… Continue reading The tower with a soul… 7
The tower with a soul… 6
A ship without a skipper The first two-three years in the life of the new tower passed in the fever of newness and building experience. For us newbie’s everything was new by definition but even the older colleagues had to get used to the numerous new taxiways and the methods of using two runways. But… Continue reading The tower with a soul… 6
The tower with a soul… 5
Flying over the cuckoo’s nest A really cute novelty was the cuckoo act. This was the art of working during the night shift while being in deep sleep at the same time. I did not have much of a need to spend whole nights wide awake before coming to ATC… I mean, even in the… Continue reading The tower with a soul… 5
The tower with a soul… 4
Wrestling with the “furniture” The huge control panel for the various ground lights, like the taxiway lighting, was next to the ground controller’s console. The control panel was teeming with various switches used to turn various sections of taxiway lights on and off. The panel was variously nicknamed Christmas tree and railway shunting-yard. The multitude… Continue reading The tower with a soul… 4