Stress in air traffic personnel: low-density towers and flight service stations.

Stress and anxiety levels were measured in 10 air traffic control specialists (ATCS) at two low traffic-density towers in Fayetteville (FYV), Ar, and Roswell (ROW), NM, and in 24 flight service (FS) specialists at those airports and at Okalhoma City (OKC), Ok. Physiological measurements consisted of heart rate and urine biochemical analysis for 17-ketogenic steroids, epinephrine, and norepinephrine. On-duty arousal in ATCSs and FS specialists was evident both physiologically and psychologically; such arousal was within psychologically normal limits and was generally low physiologically compared to other air traffic control (ATC) facilities studied in the past. Physiological stress levels at these low-density towers and flight service stations were also low compared to other ATC facilities studied previously. Therefore, it is inappropriate to describe all air traffic control work, as is commonly done in the popular press, as unusually stressful. Such accounts in the popular press tend to deal with the exceptional, rather than with the typical, controller or facility.