I gotta work this question in quickly! I'm hoping that someone with ATC can weigh in. There's a tired joke: "The easiest job in the world is to be a weatherman in San Diego."

What about being a controller in San Diego? One runway. Non-precision approach on RWY 27 (RNAV or LOC). For the 8th largest city in the US: A rudimentary CAT-1 ILS on RWY 9.

The people controlling the airfield at KSAN/SAN are up in a little tower.

...and (I just find the juxtaposition interesting): Before any aircraft contacts the sleepy San Diego Tower/GND:

They've been in some measure of contact with the busiest airspace on the planet [also based in sleepy San Diego] that is SOCAL TRACON.

With everything going on in the world right now.. and it's a lot to take in. Connections with aviation peers, knowing they're real and here is likely therapy for quite a few of us. For escapism, I'm redirecting my thoughts to the aviation community. Anyway, I just thought I'd ask something funny:

Is KSAN the ultimate lazy job in ATC, akin to being a "weatherman" in San Diego?

New Orleans is definitely easier than SAN.

Actually, our weather can be quite badly predicted. I remember the violent thunderstorm on a 0 % rain prediction day. The combination of Humboldt current influences and the battle of desert Santa Ana winds with onshore ocean flows can be quite dramatic. Perhaps the prediction part of the job is very easy, but the accuracy part is harder.

ATC also deals with (perhaps) the busiest single runway airport in the world. When the coastal foggy clouds move in, direction shifts backwards. Quite the juggling act.

I guess my answer is "probably not".

They have to hit gaps between constant arrivals. How is that easier than having parallel runways?

LOL I don't know man, I've been flying GA for 16 years and SAN (at least the immediate SAN area which does see more midair collisions than probably most of the West Coast) is pretty hectic compared to most of the country. It's not the LAX/SFO/NYC terminal areas, but...it isn't HNL either, which is also a Bravo. Lol.

I'm not ATC but I've been a nerd about it all my life, worked 6 years in a busy ramp tower (one of which shared all the facilities with the FAA folks) that also did FIDS/gate assignments, and passed the AT-SAT 4 different times with a WQ only to finally age out of the hiring pool due to COVID. Everything I've learned from controllers makes me think SAN (where you have to cram everything onto one runway) vs like ATL or ORD where "you're always cleared to land" and often have dedicated arrival/departure runways more or less...I don't think SAN is an easy ATC job. Look at the ground there, planes roll off the runway, boom, right into the only taxiway by the terminal. Things happen fast. Not to mention when they go into an ILS mode they often get tons of diversions, and then things clear up and the airport is metered and packed with traffic. And like most coastal airports in California, fog rolls in fast.

Quite the contrary, I've always been impressed with SAN ATC thinking they work hard.

LexPassenger wrote:

Actually, our weather can be quite badly predicted. I remember the violent thunderstorm on a 0 % rain prediction day. The combination of Humboldt current influences and the battle of desert Santa Ana winds with onshore ocean flows can be quite dramatic. Perhaps the prediction part of the job is very easy, but the accuracy part is harder.

ATC also deals with (perhaps) the busiest single runway airport in the world. When the coastal foggy clouds move in, direction shifts backwards. Quite the juggling act.

I guess my answer is "probably not".

LGW is busier, but your point stands. Handling separation on such a busy single runway operation is an impressive juggling act for sure.

As a retired controller who worked in a busy TRACON and tower before the two were split into separate facilities long ago I have to ask the OP, are you kidding?

Nothing, not one thing about ATC is simple period. Don't care where you work, the career is ever changing moment by moment as even at the sleepiest facility there will be times when you are going to get very complex busy situations. Doesn't matter if it is a student pilot who is disoriented to an aircraft with landing gear issues, to an airplane accident.....no dull boring days.

Sorry, now back to the questions......SAN is not easy at all from what a colleague told us who worked there before transferring to our facility.

Forgive my naivety, but how does the lower level of precision approach on either runway make a controller's job easier, as OP alluded?

BWIAirport wrote:

Forgive my naivety, but how does the lower level of precision approach on either runway make a controller's job easier, as OP alluded?

OP has zero concept of ATC based on the entire premise of this post

One of the worst plane crashes in United States history happened on approach to SAN, and ATC played a role. It was a mid-air collision.

32andBelow wrote:

OP has zero concept of ATC based on the entire premise of this post

, maybe the responses will enlighten the OP!

IAHFLYR wrote:

Nothing, not one thing about ATC is simple period. Don't care where you work, the career is ever changing moment by moment as even at the sleepiest facility there will be times when you are going to get very complex busy situations. Doesn't matter if it is a student pilot who is disoriented to an aircraft with landing gear issues, to an airplane accident.....no dull boring days.

Oh, there probably are some dull, boring days, but you can't go into work expecting it, and a dull, boring shift can turn into a seething cauldron of stress in an instant, with the safety of perhaps hundreds depending on decisions a controller has seconds to make. You'd expect overnight at HNL to be pretty quiet but then you get Transair 810.

IAHFLYR wrote:

32andBelow wrote:

OP has zero concept of ATC based on the entire premise of this post

, maybe the responses will enlighten the OP!

Indeed, I am humbled and more enlightened. Thank you, and I appreciate the candid answers from all. Silly of me not to take all of the aforementioned into account. I apologize that my OP suggested that any ATC job is "easy." Quite the contrary as we know: ATC is one of the most stressful, yet best executed of all professions.

Pivoting a little: Any thoughts on particular Class Bravo ATC shifts that could be considered the most "streamlined" when reporting for duty?

The majority of the bigger facilities are understaffed and on 6 day work weeks. Yet there isn’t a staffing issue in the big bosses eyes. Going to be a while before things feel streamlined.

Working the tower at SAN is generally known as a country club job, but they also are only an ATC 8 or 9 and are not making the money a controller at LAX, SFO or LAS makes.

Now, working approach there is a whole different thing. I know multiple controllers who work San Diego area for SCT and it is very, very challenging - particularly when they are working 127.3/125.3, the Palomar area sectors.

I'd bet MCI, PIT, STL or a few other towers are much easier to work though. However, I think those all come with also working radar.

ScottB wrote:

IAHFLYR wrote:

Nothing, not one thing about ATC is simple period. Don't care where you work, the career is ever changing moment by moment as even at the sleepiest facility there will be times when you are going to get very complex busy situations. Doesn't matter if it is a student pilot who is disoriented to an aircraft with landing gear issues, to an airplane accident.....no dull boring days.

Oh, there probably are some dull, boring days, but you can't go into work expecting it, and a dull, boring shift can turn into a seething cauldron of stress in an instant, with the safety of perhaps hundreds depending on decisions a controller has seconds to make. You'd expect overnight at HNL to be pretty quiet but then you get Transair 810.

Yep…and on top of that…HNL, which has been mentioned more than once, can often go from clear and a million to 1/8mi and RVR <800 SMACK the middle of the midday bank in the time it took you to read that. Diversion airports are not exactly “plentiful” so stress adds up.

In summation, don’t discount ANY airport’s ATC busy-ness. It’s a fools errand

JohnJ wrote:

One of the worst plane crashes in United States history happened on approach to SAN, and ATC played a role. It was a mid-air collision.

….and soon after a TCA (now Class B) was established at SAN. Prior to this there was only a more loosely controlled TRSA at SAN I believe.

26point2 wrote:

JohnJ wrote:

One of the worst plane crashes in United States history happened on approach to SAN, and ATC played a role. It was a mid-air collision.

….and soon after a TCA (now Class B) was established at SAN. Prior to this there was only a more loosely controlled TRSA at SAN I believe.

That really wouldn't have changed much. The Cessna was doing a practice approach and under positive ATC control.

airportugal310 wrote:

ScottB wrote:

IAHFLYR wrote:

Nothing, not one thing about ATC is simple period. Don't care where you work, the career is ever changing moment by moment as even at the sleepiest facility there will be times when you are going to get very complex busy situations. Doesn't matter if it is a student pilot who is disoriented to an aircraft with landing gear issues, to an airplane accident.....no dull boring days.

Oh, there probably are some dull, boring days, but you can't go into work expecting it, and a dull, boring shift can turn into a seething cauldron of stress in an instant, with the safety of perhaps hundreds depending on decisions a controller has seconds to make. You'd expect overnight at HNL to be pretty quiet but then you get Transair 810.

Yep…and on top of that…HNL, which has been mentioned more than once, can often go from clear and a million to 1/8mi and RVR <800 SMACK the middle of the midday bank in the time it took you to read that. Diversion airports are not exactly “plentiful” so stress adds up.

In summation, don’t discount ANY airport’s ATC busy-ness. It’s a fools errand

HNL's complexity is in that the facility is a center, tower and approach.

Every facility has its complexities that would at times challenge even the "best" controllers. I can't help but roll my eyes when controllers pull the "I work the busiest traffic" card, because it's essentially meaningless. I've had times where I've gone further down the tubes with just five airplanes while slammed with weather than having 30 days blocks on my scope in clear weather. Every day is different and every sector is different. I work at a busy level 12 center in an area that notoriously gets screwed by TMU playbooks, but I also don't envy the challenges the other areas in my building have to deal with on a daily basis, nor do I envy what I know the underlying approach controls and towers deal with every day. So, I don't think there's some mythical easy place to work that also earns big money, especially with how short staffed most facilities are right now. We're regularly two or three controllers short, nearly all of us are working the maximum six day work weeks, and plenty of us are working the maximum 10 hour duty days at least a couple of times per week. Even the easy days aren't always easy when you're stuck at work away from your family and not getting much sleep.

N1120A wrote:

26point2 wrote:

JohnJ wrote:

One of the worst plane crashes in United States history happened on approach to SAN, and ATC played a role. It was a mid-air collision.

….and soon after a TCA (now Class B) was established at SAN. Prior to this there was only a more loosely controlled TRSA at SAN I believe.

That really wouldn't have changed much. The Cessna was doing a practice approach and under positive ATC control.

Indeed, they were under positive ATC control. At that time SAN had the only civilian, operational ILS in the county. Consequently, IFR flight training was a common presence. The Cessna was executing a simulated missed approach, climbing away from 9 whilst the 727 was on downwind for 27.

After the tragic crash, the FAA very quickly implemented ILS equipment at Montgomery Field (MYF) and Carlsbad (CLD) further up north, in addition to the aforementioned Bravo designation.

I sure do feel silly about my OP, especially reflecting on this.

rjsampson wrote:

N1120A wrote:

26point2 wrote:

That really wouldn't have changed much. The Cessna was doing a practice approach and under positive ATC control.

Indeed, they were under positive ATC control. At that time SAN had the only civilian, operational ILS in the county. Consequently, IFR flight training was a common presence. The Cessna was executing a simulated missed approach, climbing away from 9 whilst the 727 was on downwind for 27.

After the tragic crash, the FAA very quickly implemented ILS equipment at Montgomery Field (MYF) and Carlsbad (CLD) further up north, in addition to the aforementioned Bravo designation.

I sure do feel silly about my OP, especially reflecting on this.

Carlsbad is CRQ to anyone actually using that ILS to fly an airplane .

MYF and CRQ have ILS because both airports need them, especially back during the pre-GPS era. I'd suspect that the midair was kind of a minor factor.

Much more of a product of this was the development of TCAS. Further, SAN did not even have a TRSA at the time of the disaster - that was implemented after.