Air Traffic Controller Reveals What Hand Signals Actually Mean

If you've ever looked out of a plane window at the runway workers waving their little torches around and wondered what on Earth is going in, the mystery is about to be solved. Listen to the explanation below:

Air traffic controller Jenny has shared a video to her TikTok account to explain just what she's doing when she is trying to direct pilots on the tarmac.

In the video, she can be seen standing in front of a huge aircraft, which is coming straight towards her, while holding two red sticks in her hands.

According to the video, when she waves her left hand, it signals for the pilot to turn right.

She then uses both of the glowing sticks to point towards her, again, waving back and forth, which is directing the pilot to come straight towards her.

Once straight, Jenny extends her arms in front and forms a circle around her to tell the pilot that they are on the correct line.

TikTok/@medousastone

Jenny then corrects their line a couple of times, telling the pilot to go left a bit and then straight ahead, before pointing her lights downwards and raising them up to warn that they need to slow down.

Finally, she forms a X sign while her arms are raised to tell the pilot to stop.

Since posting the video, it has been viewed more than 8.8 million times, with thousands of users commenting.

Praising Jenny for her work, one person said: "Thank you for what you do, your job is important."

Another joked: "I'd probably mess up my left and right."

"No one is talking about how scary it must be to do that lmao," pointed out a third.

TikTok/@medousastone

While another added: "This actually educated me so much."

For those looking to follow in Jenny's footsteps, she also explained how you could get a job like hers.

In a separate video, she said: "Search on Indeed and search for ramp agent job at your nearest airport.

"You don't need a degree. Just apply, you're not gonna regret it."

Keep an eye out next time you go on holiday... whenever that may actually be.

Topics: World News, Airport, Airplane, Social Media, US News, TikTok

Dominic Smithers

Dominic graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History. Like you, Dom has often questioned how much use a second language has been. Well, after stints working at the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express, along with never setting foot in France, he realised the answer is surprisingly little. But I guess, c'est la vie. Contact us at [email protected]

@SmithersDom