In a career working in air traffic control that spanned 24 years, Michele Robson saw it all (on her radar screen) and heard it all, too.

She began her training in 1992 and left in 2016, spending her entire career at London Area Centre, directing traffic flying at over 20,000 feet north of Heathrow and up to Manchester and Scotland, and out over Ireland – and that traffic has included Air Force One.

Michele revealed to MailOnline Travel what working life was like in the high-pressure world of ATC, from directing pilots with a failed engine to the joy of working with British Airways pilots.

She also divulged some soothing insights for nervous flyers, including why the system of planes taking off in between aircraft landing is perfectly safe.

She explained: ‘There are rules in place to provide adequate separation. If something went wrong such as the aircraft on the runway not being able to take off, the incoming aircraft would perform a missed approach procedure, which is all documented to be safe.

Michele Robson pictured here working as an air traffic controller in the late 1990s

‘Passengers usually find this procedure very scary as the aircraft will quite often get close to the runway and then have to put on full power to climb again. However, it is very normal to have to do this for many reasons and perfectly safe.

‘Passengers also worry as the pilots have an extremely high workload during a go-around, so until they have got capacity to make an announcement, the passengers don’t hear anything and think it is an emergency.’

The ‘stacking’ system can also cause anxiety, with some worrying that their aircraft will run out of fuel.

But Michele said that controllers and pilots will always be able to handle the situation.

The 52-year-old said: ‘Passengers don’t need to worry because the pilots have a set procedure where they need a minimum amount of fuel on board to continue flying with enough time to fly to their alternate airport if they can’t land, plus contingency time.

‘So they will divert or declare an emergency to get priority before it gets to that point. Controllers would always land someone with low fuel as priority. It is extremely rare for a pilot to declare they are running short of fuel. Even then, it is not really an emergency as they have enough to fly elsewhere and hold.’

Michele is now Editor of a travel tips site called Turning Left for Less

Heathrow is notorious for stacking incoming aircraft, but it’s not the most stressful hub for air traffic controllers. That honour goes to two major airports in the U.S.

Michele said: ‘The most stressful airports for an air traffic controller to work at worldwide would probably be JFK or Chicago.

‘Those two airports are some of the busiest in the world and if you listen to their controllers, they don’t even have time to get a readback [from the pilot] on many instructions – which would not be allowed in the UK.’

Despite all the regulations in the UK, things do go wrong, of course. But not very often.

Michele said: ‘I dealt with one quite scary emergency where an aircraft had lost an engine – they can fly on one perfectly well – but were worried about the other one.

‘Fortunately, all my training kicked in and despite it being a stressful situation I managed to get him in to land safely at the nearest airport very rapidly.’

And on top of the training, one group of pilots consistently helped with ATC life – those working for British Airways.

Michele said: ‘I always enjoyed working with British Airways pilots as they were very professional but could sometimes display their dry sense of humour when it was quiet.’

Michele is now Editor of a travel tips site called Turning Left for Less, which offers advice on ‘travelling in luxury for less’. 

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has vowed to be tougher on workplace sexual harassment.

The City watchdog will set out a crackdown on perpetrators and firms failing to punish them in a consultation paper this week. 

Guidance will be published on ‘serious instances of harassment and bullying’ and explain how ‘non-financial misconduct’ is part of the regulator’s test for financial service workers to be ‘fit and proper’.

Crackdown: The Financial Conduct Authority has vowed to be tougher on workplace sexual harassment

This summer hedge fund tycoon Crispin Odey was accused by 20 women of sexual misconduct. Odey ‘strenuously’ disputes the claims.

The allegations shone a spotlight on the FCA’s oversight of Odey’s asset management firm, which had been under investigation for two years before claims were made in the media.

Nikhil Rathi, chief executive of the FCA, told The Telegraph: ‘Financial services workplaces need to be safe places for women.’

An Australian tour guide drives through a river filled with 600 crocodiles to get to work every day – and the terrifying journey frequently has him fearing for his life.

David McMahon, 36, is a head tour guide for Venture North Safaris in Australia’s Northern Territory.

‘I’ve been guiding in Northern Australia for over 15 years through some of the most remote and spectacular parts of the country,’ he told FEMAIL.

One of David’s tours see him cross the East Alligator River at Cahill’s Crossing – a deadly journey that has claimed two lives in the past.

‘I don’t think this is everyone’s idea of a commute to work – but things are a bit different up here in the Top End,’ he said.

David McMahon, 36, is a head tour guide in Australia’s Northern Territory

He then shared a short clip that showed almost 15 crocodiles monitoring his car.

‘I’m crossing the mighty East Alligator River – they’re lined up as the diamond scale mullet and barramundi are swimming up the crossing,’ he explained about the starving crocodiles.

David shared that the disparity in the name and creature occurred because English explorer Phillip Parker King couldn’t tell alligators and crocodiles apart.

‘This is truly such a wild place,’ David said, gazing out onto the deadly reptiles.

He told FEMAIL: ‘There has been many times over the years when I’ve crossed this river with my heart in my mouth!

‘The worst is at night time, and there was one occasion I had to cross it really deep when the tide had stopped and before it started rushing out again. 

‘As soon as I entered the water, the headlights went under and I had to do the crossing blind – knowing exactly what was waiting for me if I made a mistake.’

An Australian man revealed that his daily commute to work includes driving across a river filled with 600 crocodiles – and the terrifying journey frequently has him fearing for his life

But despite the frequent dose of terror, David truly loves his job.

‘I love being able to share the beauty of Northern Australia with guests from around the world,’ he said. 

‘It’s such a wild place up here and there are fewer and fewer places on the planet like this.

‘To spend so much time in the bush is a privilege I never take for granted and I honestly can’t pick a part of the job I don’t love,’ he added.

The short clip David shared showed almost 15 crocodiles monitoring his car

Many were shocked by David’s arduous commute and commended him for his bravery.

‘I’d be so afraid of doing that – too close for comfort,’ a woman said. ‘Good on you!’

‘My anxiety peaked watching that, you’re so brave,’ another added.

While others chose to combat their fear with humour.

‘That’s the road my dad crossed everyday on foot to get to school,’ one wrote.

‘At least you don’t get stuck in a traffic jam there,’ a second said. 

Man with a plan: Chancellor Jeremy Hunt

The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, is planning to tackle Britain’s surging welfare bills in his Autumn Statement amid increasing numbers of working-age people claiming benefits.

Under the most optimistic scenarios drawn up by the Office for Budget Responsibility, the public finances could be boosted by nearly £18 billion if the Government is successful in getting people off health benefits and back into the workforce.

That figure is made up of £10.9 billion in higher tax receipts from people returning to work, plus a saving of £6.5 billion on welfare bills. It would enable the Government to slice £1.3 billion from interest payments on the national debt.

If the campaign to reduce inactivity fails, then deficits and the debt could continue to balloon. The latest figures show increased spending on benefit payments – £14 billion – accounted for more than half of the increase in overall current expenditure in the year to August.

Consultations are being initiated on toughening up rules for people who have fallen out of the job market and are claiming long-term sickness payments.

Hunt also is considering cutting back sharply on uprating benefits. The convention is to increase payments in line with the consumer prices index over the summer months, which would produce a figure close to eight per cent.

But the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development forecast last week that inflation would fall to below three per cent in 2024.

The Chancellor’s main goal is to encourage people back to work. That would help to control inflation as staff shortages have put pressure on employers to succumb to high wage demands.

The number of working-age people classified as economically inactive rose by 63,000 in the three months to July and has climbed by 411,000 since the onset of Covid-19.

At the start of 2023, some 2.6 million people or 6.1 per cent of 16- to 64-year-olds were classified as economically inactive for medical reasons. Health benefits are seen as relatively accessible and generous compared with other welfare options.

The focus of the Autumn Statement on November 22 will be on reining in spending and securing headroom in the public finances. The goal is to create space in the 2024 Budget to lower the nation’s tax burden, which at 37 per cent of national income is at its highest since the 1940s.

Hunt finds himself in a better place on the public finances than projected at the start of the fiscal year. Buoyant tax receipts from VAT and PAYE have meant an under-shoot of £11.6 billion in its first five months. This provides him with far more wiggle room than previously thought.

Hunt is not ruling out an eventual change in the VAT regime for overseas visitors to the UK when he frames the Budget. His work on the issue follows a concerted campaign from upmarket retailers, airports and the hospitality sector, which argue that the regime is driving overseas visitors elsewhere.

Tax reforms to be outlined in November are expected to focus on further incentives for business investment, which has taken off since the pandemic.

Business investment is calculated by one City economist to have climbed by 35 per cent since 2020. Hunt wants to build on the changes he introduced earlier this year when he expanded tax breaks for capital investment to 100 per cent.

The OBR, which marks the Government’s Budget homework, says that the rising cost to the taxpayer of long-term sickness is the difference between the Government ‘reducing debt levels by a comfortable margin’ or a rising debt burden.

It argues that reversing the rise in health-related inactivity and poor health in work could reduce large and growing pressure on the public finances.

Hunt wants to make it easier in the Budget for people with mental health problems to get back into the workforce by making access to support easier.

A key part of the reforms will be to make health benefits less generous, which might encourage people to seek work. With inflation falling, there is a chance to slash the uprating, making it forward- rather than backward-looking.

There are still nearly a million job vacancies across the economy. Many, ironically, are in the health and care sectors.

Doctors could be forced to work on strike days under government plans to introduce minimum safe staffing levels in hospitals.

The Department of Health is launching a consultation on extending recent legislation to cover more healthcare workers as consultants begin a two-day strike today.

Consultants have so far this year held four days of industrial action and junior doctors 19 days.

Junior doctors will start their next three-day strike tomorrow, meaning they will walk out at the same time as consultants for the first time.

Health leaders have expressed concerns about the ‘nightmare scenario’ and revealed some patients are now having operations postponed two or more times due to industrial action, including growing numbers with cancer.

Junior doctors hold placards during a strike, amid a dispute with the government over pay, in London on April 11 (file photo)

File photo dated from January 18 this years, of a general view of staff on a NHS hospital ward

Strikes have so far cost the NHS around £1billion and the number of cancelled appointments and operations is expected to hit one million by the end of this week.

The consultation considers introducing minimum service levels that would cover ‘urgent, emergency and time-critical hospital-based health services’.

It follows a consultation earlier this year on introducing minimum service levels in ambulance services, and would bring the UK in line with countries such as France and Italy whose services continue in times of industrial action. 

Ministers believe minimum service levels will provide a better balance between supporting the ability of workers to strike with the safety of the public.

Consultants and junior doctors will walk out together again on October 2, 3 and 4, which coincides with the Conservative Party conference in Manchester.

The NHS is expected to see a ‘Christmas Day’ level of staffing when both groups are off, with emergency care as priority.

The Government has given a 6 per cent pay rise to consultants and the same plus a lump sum of £1,250 for junior doctors, and has said there will be no further offers. 

Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, said: ‘Strikes can’t become the status quo. Only the Government sitting down with the unions can end this disruption.’

Everton boss Sean Dyche admitted he had ‘massive work to do’ at Everton after the Toffees faced their fourth loss in the opening five games of the Premier League campaign.  

Arsenal overcame their Goodison Park problems by earning a 1-0 win over Everton courtesy of substitute Leandro Trossard‘s second-half goal.

The Gunners were on a run of bad form when visiting the blue half of Merseyside, and it looked like things might not go their way when Gabriel Martinelli had a goal disallowed for a controversial offside call after 19 minutes.

Everton put in a dogged performance against the Gunners, though it was not enough to find the back of the net at Goodison Park. 

The defeat leaves Sean Dyche’s Everton in the relegation zone, with only a solitary point from their first five Premier League games.

Arsenal overcame their Goodison Park problems by earning 1-0 win over Everton courtesy of substitute Trossard’s second-half goal, marking the Toffees fourth defeat in five games

Everton boss Sean Dyche admitted he had ‘massive work to do’ at Everton after the Toffees faced their fourth loss in the opening five games of the Premier League campaign

James Tarkowski looks dejected at the full-time whistle after suffering a 1-0 defeat at home

After the match, though Dyche praised his side’s defensive efforts, he said it was the ‘details’ which have cost his side this season. 

‘We defended in numbers, did well in that side of the game but with the ball we were miles off. 

‘We set the players up, the details have cost us all season. You’ve got to stay focused, they’ve got some top players.’ He added. 

‘The performance of the officials was on par with the norm. You want consistency. They’re right in front of our eyes and nothing gets done. 

‘They’re a top side, we huffed and puffed but didn’t create enough.

The Toffees boss acknowledged the squad’s lack of depth, but assured that it was something the club are working on. 

For Sean Dyche, he had options of note on the Everton bench this time — including Dominic Calvert-Lewin. 

‘We set the players up, the details have cost us all season. You’ve got to stay focused, they’ve got some top players.’ He added. ‘The performance of the officials was on par with the norm’

A luxury of nine men on hand, most of whom were senior players, in comparison to the mere four established outfield substitutions available against Sheffield United in their previous league game.

Sean Dyche’s team scored twice in drawing at Sheffield United just before the international break but they are the only goals on the Everton ledger after five league games. 

‘We’re getting players fit, we’re getting a bit deeper in our squad. The noise has been there for a couple of seasons. We’re looking to constantly work to correct it.

‘It’s a work in progress. There’s massive amounts of work to be done and it will take time.’

Everton have now lost six of their last seven Premier League games at Goodison Park and they have lost their last three by a 1-0 scoreline

The levels of long-term sick leave from work pose a ‘serious’ threat to Britain’s public finances, a report warns.

Bosses at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) also insist that standards of healthcare have declined – despite increasing amounts of funding being ploughed into services.

The 90-page report comes after the IPPR’s Commission on Health and Prosperity conducted an audit of health and care services, which concluded that poor health is costing livelihoods as well as lives.

Long-term sickness has become a ‘serious fiscal threat’, the report says, with the number of people out of work due to poor health at an all-time high of 2.6million.

It adds: ‘There is no road to prosperity for this nation without tackling the tide of sickness head-on. 

Long-term sickness has become a ‘serious fiscal threat’ with the number of people out of work due to poor health at an all-time high of 2.6 million

‘The number of deaths that could have been avoided with timely healthcare or public health interventions is much higher in the UK than in all other comparable European nations. 

‘If the UK had a [similar] avoidable mortality rate, around 240,000 fewer people would have died in the decade from 2010.’

Long waits for healthcare and a failure to tackle obesity, couch potato lifestyles and smoking have fuelled the deaths, says the think-tank.

The IPPR found the quality of care nationally has got worse despite increased spending, leading the country to ‘spend more to get less’. 

It is calling on the Government to take urgent action to deliver better value for money for taxpayers.

Reforming the NHS to change it from a ‘sickness service’ to a ‘prevention service’ would ‘avert killer costs’ and end ‘second-rate care’, the IPPR report says

Reforming the NHS to change it from a ‘sickness service’ to a ‘prevention service’ would ‘avert killer costs’ and end ‘second-rate care’, it adds. 

Lord James Bethell, a former Tory health minister, said: ‘Sick Britain is costing us our lives, our livelihoods and harming the UK economy.

‘If we want to change course, we must stop pretending that the answers are always more hospitals and more acute staff. Instead, we must start taking action to reduce demand and need for healthcare, through prevention.’

Matthew Taylor, of the NHS Confederation, which represents healthcare organisations, said: ‘Investment that keeps people out of hospital and preventing ill health will save money in the long-term, support the economy and help to secure a sustainable, flourishing future for the NHS.’

A medicine used by millions of Americans for a stuffy nose does not work, a Food and Drug Administration panel ruled today.

Phenylephrine is the most common active compound in over-the-counter drugs like Benadryl Allergy Plus Congestion, Sudafed PE, and Tylenol Cold and Flu Severe Day & Night.

But an FDA panel said after a two-day review that the oral decongestant ‘is not effective’ at standard or even high doses compared to a placebo.

Their ruling is not binding but strongly suggests the agency could soon heed their advice and pull its approval, forcing companies to pull or reformulate their products. 

The ingredient is protected under the FDA’s Generally Recognized as Safe and Effective (GRASE) designation, but a reversal of its approval could mean manufacturers including Bayer and Johnson and Johnson might need to reformulate.

The ingredient phenylephrine is common on pharmacy shelves and has received a desigation from the FDA that it is generally recognized as safe. But losing that designation could mean big players in the OTC medicines field will pull their products from shelves or reformulate

Phenylephrine is everywhere, so much so that nearly every nasal decongestant on pharmacy shelves contains it.

Drugs that contain it generated almost $ 1.8 billion in sales last year, according to data presented Monday by FDA officials. 

A unanimous vote by the 16-member Nonprescription Drug Advisory panel could issue a major blow to the industry.

Today’s ruling only applies to oral formulations of phenylephrine, which account for about one-fifth of the $2.2 billion market for oral decongestants.

If the agency decides to pull oral phenylephrine’s GRASE designation, major manufacturers of drugs like Sudafed PE and Benadryl may be forced to reformulate them.

Phenylephrine was approved by the FDA in the 1970s to shrink the dilated blood vessels in the nose, relieving nasal and sinus congestion.

But since then, more research has come out questioning whether oral formulations of the medicine have any measurable benefit, given the way it’s metabolized in the body.

The medicine is metabolized in the gut, allowing just a fraction to enter the bloodstream, which is how it reaches the nose. 

In fact, briefing documents compiled by the FDA show that less than a one percent concentration of the drug is able to reach the nose after being broken down in the gut.

The documents detailed flaws in the trials for the ingredient in the 1960s and 1970s, citing small sample sizes and relied on techniques no longer used by the FDA to approve medications. 

The unanimous ruling does not concern another popular deconestant, pseudoephedrine. 

In 2006, a law passed to limit access to pseudoephedrine, the active ingredient in many versions of Sudafed by moving it behind pharmacy counters. 

The ingredient is used to illegally process methamphetamine. 

The original Sudafed that contains pseudoephedrine are less popular than versions that don’t require a trip to the pharmacy counter, and American consumers largely prefer pills over nasal sprays.

Phenylephrine does seem to work better when applied directly to the nose.

In 2007, pharmacy professors at the University of Florida put forth a petition pressing the FDA to review whether a 10 milligram phenylephrine pill worked as a decongestant.

They said in a meta-analysis of available data: ‘Thus, the results of the studies reported after the 2007 Advisory Committee Meeting clearly demonstrate that [phenylephrine ] is no more effective than placebo in decreasing nasal congestion and increasing the dose fourfold did not provide additional benefit.’

A series of studies pointing to its ineffectiveness have come out since then.

In 2015, a study sponsored in part by the New Jersey-based pharmaceutical company Merck & Co found that the the 10 milligram dose, as well as 20, 30, or 40 milligram doses were ‘not significantly better than placebo at relieving nasal congestion’ in a sample of 539 adults.