> Is this normal for ATC to communicate like this? This sounds like some people I worked with in previous job with much lower stakes involved… Caveat, while fl

> Is this normal for ATC to communicate like this? This sounds like some people I worked with in previous job with much lower stakes involved… Caveat, while flying I'd hate to hear this from a controller if I'm on the edge of consuming my reserve fuel. But before judging this particular controller I'd be interested to know what the other comms traffic was like, both with this plane and also the pace of the rest of the arrivals. I don't want to pick on ATC if the seemingly sudden onset of aggression was cherry-picked for the blog from a conversation that had already tried to handle the matter politely. It's also important to understand that many US ATC facilities are understaffed, the controllers are overworked, and a high incidence of rostering them for extra shifts will leave them fatigued. It doesn't make it any easier for the pilots to get the plane on the ground when they're getting short shrift from ATC like this, but the core of the problem is ATC training and turnover rates. Not one particular controller getting cranky with pilots because he/she is powertripping.