Man the tower!

YOU ARE THE ONLY VOICE THEY HAVE Nobody up there can see what you can see. Twelve aircraft, one runway, a crosswind that just turned, and a Cessna somewhere in the murk who has stopped sounding confident. That is the job. Man the tower! Man the tower! is an arcade air traffic control game: a green radar scope, a menu of real clearances, and a shift that will not wait for you. Tap an aircraft. Give it a heading, an altitude, a runway. Listen to the readback. Move on to the next one — there are four more checking in. FOUR SEATS, FOUR DIFFERENT JOBS Information, ground, tower or approach.. Each one changes what you are allowed to say and what happens when you get it wrong. At an information field you clear nobody: you pass the wind, the runway in use and the traffic, and the pilots decide. On ground you own the taxiways and the gates, but the runway belongs to the tower. On approach you…