Industry Influencers: George Lane

Aero Circus investigates a man who has sat on both sides of the radio, as an air traffic controller and highly accomplished pilot

World War Z

All too often we come across pilots who think that all air traffic control (ATC) personnel are ‘the enemy’. Certainly, there may be a very small minority in ATC that do not hold all pilots in the same high esteem that they hold themselves. But the vast majority, at least in our experience, are totally dedicated to helping pilots wherever possible. Even when the sublime becomes the ridiculous.

One man who has epitomised this mindset is the recently retired chief issuer of clearances, expectations and weather advice at Archerfield Tower near Brisbane. George Lane has spent his whole working life in aviation, and along the way gathered a large band of dedicated followers, on both sides of the VHF radio. As Archerfield is a training airfield, he spent much of his career dealing with perhaps the toughest audience – ab initio student pilots.