“When you think about that dot on the screen and how many people that represents,” Jess Walton says as she points to a blinking circle on one of the four screens in front of her. “It’s our job to keep them safe, so you can’t really get distracted.”
The air-traffic controller sits in the “en route” section of the air-traffic services centre next to Melbourne airport, in the offices of Airservices Australia, the commonwealth-owned organisation responsible for the management of the country’s skies.
