DC incident spurs look at airport tower staffing

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By JOAN LOWY

WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal authorities are reviewing the staffing of air traffic control towers nationwide after two passenger jets were unable to reach a controller at Washington's Reagan National Airport to guide their late-night landings.

An aviation official said that an air traffic supervisor - the lone controller on duty around midnight on Tuesday when the incident occurred - had fallen asleep. The official spoke on grounds of anonymity because an investigation is ensuing.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood LaHood directed the Federal Aviation Administration to launch a nationwide inquiry into airport tower staffing.

Peter Knudson, a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board, said Wednesday that the pilots of the two planes were in contact with controllers at a regional FAA facility about 40 miles away in Warrenton, Va. They landed safely.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20110324/D9M5MGCG0.html

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The FAA control tower at Reagan National Airport is seen in Arlington, Wednesday, March 23, 2011. Federal safety officials are investigating a report that two planes landed at the airport without control tower clearance becasue the air traffic controller was asleep. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Could it be the hens coming home to roost?

Ronald Reagan (after whom National Airport was re-named, talk about karma) fired striking PATCO member/air controllers rather than negotiate terms for an agreement. Considering the stress and complexity of conducting safety in the skies, these workers are not that easily replaced. I've been waiting to hear of a breakdown of performance of subsequent air controllers and I can only surmise that I haven't heard it until now because prior lapses have been covered up.

[nashville_brook]

12. [phone]

[hedgehog]

16. IIRC - PATCO was on strike not over pay, but over safety issues.

The members were concerned about under staffing and obsolete equipment.

[burrowowl]

19. You are right on!

My Father was a controller for 36 years and my Sister got fired by RAYGUN the %^%#^@$

[RaleighNCDUer]

24. And, unlike police or firefighters, the danger was not in their not doing their jobs,

which would have simply meant shutting down air traffic (no one flies, no one dies), but in continuing to do their jobs with inadequate safety standards.

[WatsonT]

2. Well that's fairly terrifying

[Lasher]

3. You mean Washington National Airport?

The one named for our first president?

[driver8]

5. Exactly...n/t

[Old and In the Way]

4. It's all about productivity.

That measurement started to become part of the metrics to evaluate our economy....as jobs were lost to outsourcing. As employment declines, productivity goes up. Why? Because fewer are doing the work of more, working longer hours with less benefits and less pay.

The last worker standing is going to be mighty productive; he might just be so productive that he needs to catch up on his sleep from sheer exhaustion.

[driver8]

6. Isn't it ironic? Don't you think?

Ronald Reagan screwed over the air traffic controllers, and now at the airport named after him, there aren't enough air traffic controllers!

[FSogol]

7. Example of Republican politics and small government

No one to inspect food
No one to inspect medicine
No one to inspect children's toys
No one to inspect substandard products from overseas
No one to direct air traffic

the list keeps going on

[SeattleVet]

8. Let me get this straight...

a controller fell asleep in the tower of the airport that was renamed for a prior resident of the White House who was famous for sleeping during staff meetings?

The same guy that broke the Air Traffic Controller's union?

Irony heaped upon irony anyone?

[benld74]

9. Ironic it ocurred at an airport named after the guy who fired them to begin this shit years ago!

[liberal N proud]

10. It is appropriate this happened at "Ronald Reagan" airport

Since he is the one who killed the Air Traffic Control union.

Had there still been a union, this worker most likely would have had a backup.

[ieoeja]

11. I am absolutely shocked and amazingly thrilled.

That everyone is talking about their being too little staffing instead of dumping on that one controller!

The Corporatist propaganda ministers must have been caught napping as well.

[tularetom]

13. That airport should be shut down

Because of its location, it is very dangerous to keep it in operation.

I've heard there are many documents on file detailing near misses and narrowly averted disasters but Congress won't let the appropriate federal agencies take action to curtail or eliminate scheduled air traffic at the facility.

Why? Because it's quite convenient - for congresscritters. Most of them fly home every weekend and using National Airport cuts up to an hour off their trip. Dulles and BWIA are at least 30 miles away and commute times during rush hour are unpredictable at best. So as long as there is no horrendous disaster, this antiquated facility will continue to operate.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

22. Too popular with pols among others and it recently had major upgrades

[RaleighNCDUer]

25. Spend a billion or so dollars on an underground direct rail from Congress

to Dulles, and THEN you'd see Washington National shut down. Once it is no longer needed by them.

[liberal N proud]

26. Not to mention the damage the vibrations from the jets causes the monuments

[bluevoter4life]

14. As someone who has extensive knowledge of this kind of thing...

I can tell you the schedule that the FAA has controllers working, this kind of thing was bound to happen eventually. I do find it odd though that they has a supervisor push tin rather than a regular controller. Supes usually do just that-supervise, and only plug in when they need to. Not sure how the staffing rules work at DCA but that was just an observation in my experience. I'm glad though that all the attention is going toward the staffing problems, rather than the individual controller, as that is the issue here. Does anyone remember the Comair crash in Lexington, KY a few years ago? That incident also discovered there was only one controller on duty at the time, who was also sleep deprived. It's a very lucky and fortunate thing no serious incident occurred and the pilots were alert and smart enough to resort to procedures for flying into an uncontrolled airport.

[Blue_Tires]

23. iirc, that Comair disaster was much more about the pilots and not the controller

[bluevoter4life]

27. Yes, you are correct

My memory of the exact details are a bit fuzzy, but the investigation found that the pilots were erroneous for not ensuring they were at the proper runway. I believe the controller was absolved of any (or at least most) responsibility, but I do believe he was reprimanded for not being alert, however the investigation also showed that he wasn't alert because he was going on something like 2 hours of sleep.

[monmouth]

15. Wow....Talk about what goes around. Glad all are safe..n/t

[BrightKnight]

17. What happens if the one guy gets sick or needs a bathroom break? - n/t

[w4rma]

18. The planes won't have anyone in the tower to talk to. (nt)

[bluevoter4life]

21. That has happened before

Though not in the manner that occurred in this situation. In all the cases I've read about, it involve the controller making a general announcement to all aircraft on the frequency that the tower will be unoccupied for a few minutes and to treat the airport as uncontrolled airspace.

[DFW]

20. How fitting that the problem is the people supposed to be in charge fell asleep

Just like Reagan did at his cabinet meetings.

Washington National Airport was my home airport for decades. Dulles was built both for long range planes that
National couldn't handle, and to relieve some of the traffic congestion that was causing delays at National.
Instead, they built up National's terminals and increased capacity--probably to a point far beyond what was safe.

We never had a problem going in or out of there when I was growing up in the 60s and 70s. Maybe some of the radical
right thinks it's the good "conservative" thing to do, conserving manpower to the extent that the Air Traffic Controllers
are overworked to a point that leaves safety far behind, but when a mid-air occurs over National because some guy
is at the end of a ten hour shift and can't stay awake, that's not "conservative." It's murder.