logo
episode-header-image
Mar 2025
26m 28s

Air traffic controllers

Bbc World Service
About this episode

Datshiane Navanayagam talks to controllers from the UAE and Sweden about guiding aeroplane take-offs and landings and dealing with the extreme stress of the job.

Helena Sjöström Falk is the first woman president of the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations. She's from Sweden and recently retired from Stockholm Air Traffic Control Center. During her career she had many high pressure air traffic control positions, including aerodrome, approach, and area control.

Jouhayna AlMheiri is a senior air traffic controller, examiner and instructor in the United Arab Emirates, handling the flights of millions of passengers each year. She was the youngest and the second Emirati woman to qualify at UAE Area Control Centre. She's also a public speaker and podcast host.

Produced by Jane Thurlow

(Image: (L) Helena Sjöström Falk courtesy Helena Sjöström Falk. (R) Jouhayna AlMheiri credit Mustafa Singer.)

Up next
Jul 7
Medics in remote communities
Two doctors from South Africa and Australia tell Ella Al-Shamahi about rewards of working in rural communities and the challenges of being hundreds of miles from the nearest large hospital.Dr Melanie Matthews runs a medical centre in Maningrida, about 500km east of Darwin. She’s ... Show More
26m 28s
Jun 30
Pastry queens
An Indian chef who opened a patisserie in Jaipur and a Syrian chef with two pastry shops in the heart of Paris tell Datshiane Navanayagam about adding new layers to French classics.After training at le Cordon Bleu school in Paris Tejasvi Chandela returned to her hometown of Jaipu ... Show More
26m 28s
Jun 23
Women in glass
Two women from Hungary and the UK talk to Datshiane Navanayagam about the intensity, skill and resilience required for modern glassmaking. Mira Davida is a Hungarian glass artist based in Stockholm, Sweden. She specialises in flameworking, a technique that uses a high-temperature ... Show More
26m 30s
Recommended Episodes
Apr 23
845 Aircraft Maintenance
We speak with a KC-135 pilot and licensed airframe and powerplant mechanic who runs a business specializing in aircraft maintenance, avionics upgrades, and aircraft management. In the news, budget cuts at NOAA's Oceanic and Atmospheric Research Office, a ruling in the so-called “ ... Show More
1h 30m
May 15
An Air Traffic Controller Speaks Out About Newark Airport
Air traffic controllers for Newark Liberty International Airport have recently experienced several frightening incidents. Their radars and radios have gone dark, potentially risking the lives of hundreds of passengers. The resulting chaos and delays are forcing government officia ... Show More
20m 43s
Feb 2025
834 Aviation Ground Operations Technology
A look at aviation ground operations technology, recent fatal aviation accidents, fire aboard an A321, the successful XB-1 supersonic flight, the sentencing of a drone operator, and the threatened readiness of the US Air Force. Guest Loren Mathis is the Chief Strategy Officer of ... Show More
1h 35m
Dec 2024
829 Aviation Education
A longtime educator discusses getting an aviation education. In the news, companies partner to address corporate aviation safety and security, an A321 engine shutdown after a birdstrike, a proposal to remove ATC from the FAA, and when pigs fly. Also, notable flybys, AI flight con ... Show More
1h 37m
May 11
One Thing: Air Traffic, Out of Control?
The Department of Transportation announced it will build a “brand new air traffic control system” by 2029. It follows more than a week of massive delays and cancellations at Newark Liberty International Airport sparked by a frightening communications blackout. We look at the plan ... Show More
20m 32s
Oct 2024
[REDIFF DU MARDI] SOPHIE, COMMANDANT DE BORD DE L'A380 : TOUTES LES FOLIES QU'ELLE A VU DANS SA CARRIÈRE
Un grand merci à Sophie, commandant de bord d’un A380, d’être venue nous voir chez LEGEND !Sophie est pilote d’avion depuis 28 ans. En 2010 elle devient la première femme commandante de bord de la compagnie Etihad Airways à Abu Dhabi. Elle nous raconte les vols les plus incroyabl ... Show More
1h 18m
Feb 2019
Episode 43: Aerospace Engineer, Leader & ChangeMaker
Alicia Morgan is an award-winning executive leader and a graduate of Tuskegee University with a BS in Aerospace Science Engineering and New Mexico State University with an MS in Industrial Engineering. Her professional experience includes working at Fortune 500 companies such as ... Show More
48m 41s
Jan 2025
Cleared For Take-Off? (Tenerife Air Disaster 1)
“Evacuate the airport, we’ve planted bombs,” a terrorist tells the telephone operator at the airport in Gran Canaria, in 1977. By the end of that day, 583 people will have lost their lives – but not to a bomb explosion. The planes are diverted to the neighboring island of Tenerif ... Show More
32m 36s
Nov 2023
Exclusive CEO Interview: Riyadh Air "We Don't Want To Be Emirates or Qatar"
It's the 10th episode of On-Air, which means it's time for an exclusive airline CEO interview! In today's episode, Dan and Alex are joined by the CEO of Riyadh Air, one of the most talked about soon-to-launch airlines in the world. Tony Douglas, the aviation executive ... Show More
58m 9s
Oct 2023
Ukrainian Airlines FLIGHT PS752 | 4
Kourosh Doustshenas met Forough Khadem in 2010 but a relationship between the couple wouldn't blossom until years later. The couple planned to get married, but before that could happen, Khadem traveled to see her family in Iran. Her return ticket to Canada was scheduled for Dec. ... Show More
46m 12s