Career in focus: Air Traffic Controller

Vince Polk

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- A cloudless day is what Vince Polk hopes for when he walks into work each day.

As an Air Traffic Control Specialist for Hartsfield International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia, Polk's first responsibility is to calmly shepherd pilots to safe landings. Sometimes that means guiding planes through thunderstorms, tornadoes and low-level wind shear.

"The weather is a major player on stress," Polk said. "It helps a pilot that is in a very stressful situation to have a calm voice on the other end of the radio. Our responsibility is to offer avenues to help that pilot get the aircraft to a safe landing location," he added.

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Polk has been in the hot seat for 11 years, following training at the Federal Aviation Association Academy in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and a year and a half-training with an instructor in Columbus, Georgia.

"There are many aspects of air traffic control that I like. It's high-paced," Polk said. "Traffic volume keeps your energy levels up, and your alertness is maintained. It keeps you very sharp."

Like any team effort, air traffic controlling requires alert communication. When Polk reports for work everyday, he is given a certain amount of airspace to monitor on a radar scope. He tracks all the planes flying into his zone, making sure none of the planes is in conflict with another. As a plane departs his airspace, Polk hands off responsibility to the controller monitoring the next patch of sky.

Airports have capacity limits, and Atlanta's bustling hub is almost always running full throttle. When the weather is nice, Polk and his colleagues may land over a hundred planes in an hour. It's a dizzying pace that can be complicated by unexpected weather conditions.

Polk works at Hartsfield International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia

When aircraft start to face inclement weather conditions upon approach, air traffic controllers start changing flight courses to avoid problems. Often, planes are forced to fly into another section of air space, and controllers must scramble to adjust flight patterns to avoid a collision.

"When you deal with situations like that ... everybody is tense, and it could be stressful," Polk said.

Staying calm during these sweaty-palmed moments is very important, said Polk, but it is not a scenario a novice can easily train to endure.

"The only way to prepare yourself to deal with high-stress situations is to actually deal with them," he said. "It’s one of the most challenging jobs I've ever experienced."