RUNWAY OR ANOTHER ..WE'LL KEEP SKIES SAFE

HUNDREDS of unsung heroes, who are prepared for every eventuality such as medical emergencies to rogue drones, work day and night keeping the busy skies above Ireland safe.

- BY DANNY DE VAAL

The Irish Daily Star met one of them when we went behind the scenes at Dublin Airport's Air Traffic Control Tower earlier this week.

Laura Downey, who has worked as an air traffic controller for nine years, revealed she could speak to at least 100 pilots in a single shift and deal with up to 12 at any one time.

The 32-year-old, who has always had a passion for aviation, acknowledges her job can get incredibly stressful at times but said her training has readied her for anything.

Laura is one of more than 300 air traffic controllers employed by AirNav across Ireland which is responsible for 451,000 km2 of Irish airspace.

She said on a typical day she could deal with several medical emergencies such as a pilot declaring one of their passengers has had an epileptic fit or went into anaphylactic shock because of an allergy. But Laura says it becomes even more stressful when there is a problem with the plane itself.

Speaking to The Star, she said: "Medical emergencies would happen frequently throughout the day, what we generally do is offer that plane direct and work around them.

"We make sure there are no delays given to the plane that has declared a medical emergency. We work around that aircraft. If it's more of a technical emergency surrounding the aircraft, tensions would get a bit higher.

PRESSURE