What It’s Like to Be…an Air Traffic Controller
Sequencing departures like a moving puzzle, scrambling when a jet takes off without clearance, and catching what radar misses with a glance out the window with Michael Rejent, an air traffic controller.
What It's Like to Be...
Latest Stories
What It’s Like to Be…a Flight Attendant
Hugging a mother through an anxiety attack, bidding for the best routes, and absorbing strangers’ confessions at 35,000 feet with Linda Beall, a flight attendant.
What It’s Like to Be…an Airline Pilot
Shooting cat-three landings in the fog, using the “voice of God” on unruly passengers, and declaring Mayday after an engine fire with Paul Drusch, a commercial airline pilot.
Older Stories
What It’s Like to Be…a Clinical Ethicist
Untangling who gets to speak for a dying patient, weighing a treatment’s benefits against its burdens, and searching for clarity in the grayest corners of healthcare with Esther Berkowitz, a clinical ethicist.
What It’s Like to Be…a Correctional Officer
Grinding through 16-hour shifts, standing behind inmates (never in front), and trying to stay human in an inhuman environment with Bill Farrell, a correctional officer in Massachusetts.
What It’s Like to Be…a Custom Harvester
Harvesting five million bushels of wheat and corn from Texas to Montana, outrunning hailstorms that decimate a year’s income in 20 minutes, and running a multimillion-dollar convoy of equipment down the highway with Josh Beckley, a third-generation custom harvester from Kansas.
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