As this is written, many of the facts surrounding the murder of a Skyguide air traffic controller in Switzerland lace are not known. What is certain is that a life has been taken and a colleague has been tragically lost.

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"TCAS is an accident waiting to happen."

How many of us heard this during the introduction of TCAS? How many of us said it? 80%? 90%? All of us? We spoke out individually and we spoke out collectively through our professional organizations. Again and again, controllers decried the haphazard way TCAS was being introduced. We knew it was a question of "when" and not "if." Few, if any, of us were silent - and our voices were not heeded. A flawed technology was rushed into place. Lives were lost. Lessons went unlearned.

A writer in the PPRuNe board asks what we, air traffic controllers, can do as a community in this tragic time. I offer the following suggestions:

1) Rededicate ourselves to excellence in our profession. The ATC career demands that we perform as near to perfection as is humanly possible. We do so, not out of fear, but out of the knowledge that what we do is vitally important. Being a controller matters. Being an excellent controller matters greatly.

2) Do not accept unsafe working practices or equipment. Although the announced agenda of the agencies and companies each of us work for is air safety; practical, business and political considerations regularly come into play. Do not be naive. If you see unsafe situations developing, it is your duty to speak out and your obligation to intervene. You are the experts: not the ATM managers, scientists and bureaucrats. You know what is safe and what is not safe. It is upon your shoulders that rests the burden to insure that unsafe equipment and dangerous procedures are thrown into the trash bin where they belong!

3) Be kind to one another. It's a tough job we do, and we are all in it together.