I had recently completed ATC course #8 in WG, 1959 and transferred to YC tower.On my first day I went directly to the Unit Chief Tom Sigsworth's office and introduced myself. Tom took me up to the tower and introduced me to two controllers on duty. The air controller Howie Schafer, said; "Pull up a chair and sit beside me". He went on controlling as I watched, intrigued with what went on out the window and the transmissions from the aircraft over the speakers above the instrument panel, before headsets.

  After 15 min when the traffic slowed down, Howie turned to me and asked if I had ever talked on a radio. I said, only from an aircraft to the tower, o he plugged into a dual mic and handed it to me. His instructions were… when an aircraft calls I will give you the phraseology and you mimic it, like a parrot, over your mic to the aircraft. I nervously said, OK. Howie first pointed out each aircraft where they were located (before radar in ATC), with their registrations. There were 4 PA12s and 2 C150s in the circuit doing touch and gos. Along with Airline traffic, Corporate, Charter and Oil company aircraft, Calgary had an RCAF reserve base with P51s, C45s and DHC-3s. Calgary was also the military refuelling stop for flights going east and west over the mountains.

  When the first aircraft called, Howie immediately gave me the phraseology and I immediately repeated it verbatim over the mic. After the first hour, when I overcame the panic, I started to settle down and began having fun with it. During the second hour I realized the comfort I was getting was because I was relying on Howie's decision making and thoughts, what the hell am I going to do when he expects me to make my own decisions. The more the traffic increased the more alternate thoughts I had on my mind and the fear diminished. Wow, what a hell of a first day in ATC. I followed Howie's shift schedule and every day was a repeat of the first. When the traffic was light and time could be spent between the aircraft's call and my acknowledgement to the aircraft, Howie had me making my own decisions. During Howie's holidays I had Rod Smeed and Ron Stunden as monitors and 2 1/2 months I had my checkout.

  Howie and I became very close friends all the way through our ATC careers and into retirement with many stories to tell.    Jim Hall