Against the Wind - National Air Traffic Controllers Association

Chapter 2
Opportunity Lost
As the clock ticked toward seven on the morning of the strike, John
Gilbert drove along the two-lane road approaching Albuquerque
Center. Across the street, a group of picketers huddled in front of a
vast expanse of land dotted with gray sagebrush. They recognized Gilbert’s
truck—a classic, cherry red 1966 Chevy pickup—and began waving at him.
Gilbert noticed several members of his crew,
including the secretary and treasurer of the PATCO
local. Friendly shouts drifted through his open driver’s
side window.
“You’re on the wrong side,” they hollered.
“Come over with us. It’s not too late.”
Gilbert glanced at them and then resolutely
turned right to head past a guard shack toward the
center’s parking lot.
Sixteen months earlier, the tall, slender Houston
native had left a low-paying job selling telephone
gear to join the FAA as a controller. He later discovered
the center’s switching equipment was so antiquated
that it no longer appeared in the catalogs he’d
used at the phone company.
Nevertheless, Gilbert was happy to have a ca-
reer with potential. He believed the strikers were demanding
too much. Still certifying as a journeyman
controller, he was too new to fully understand their
frustrations. That would come later.
Several weeks earlier, his crewmates
had asked him whether he
planned to join the picket line. “Hypothetically,”
Gilbert asked, “say we
all walk and the FAA says: ‘Okay,
we concede to your demands. You
can all go back to work—except the
trainees.’ What then? Will you stay
out with us?”
“Let me think about it,” one of
them said. Many journeymen controllers held
developmentals at arm’s length until they certified
Driving on: John Gilbert began working at
Albuquerque Center in 1980 and steered
clear of the strike. / Courtesy of John Gilbert