Staffing Changes Coming On Control Tower Overnight Shifts At 27
Airports
A third incident in which an air traffic controller fell
asleep on duty has prompted Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and
FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt to announce Wednesday that
effective immediately the FAA will place an additional air traffic
controller on the midnight shift at 27 control towers around the
country that are currently staffed with only one controller during
that time.
The FAA is taking this action after an incident Wednesday
morning at Reno-Tahoe International Airport when a controller fell
asleep while a medical flight carrying an ill patient was trying to
land. The medical flight pilot was in communication with the
Northern California Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) and
landed safely. The controller, who was out of communication for
approximately 16 minutes, has been suspended while the FAA
investigates.
"I am totally outraged by these incidents. This is absolutely
unacceptable," said Secretary LaHood. "The American public trusts
us to run a safe system. Safety is our number one priority and I am
committed to working 24/7 until these problems are corrected."
“Air traffic controllers are responsible for making sure
aircraft safely reach their destinations. We absolutely cannot and
will not tolerate sleeping on the job. This type of unprofessional
behavior does not meet our high safety standards,” said FAA
Administrator Randy Babbitt.
Babbitt and National Air Traffic Controllers Association
(NATCA) President Paul Rinaldi are launching a nationwide Call to
Action on air traffic control safety and professionalism.
Next week, with members of their senior leadership teams, they will
visit air traffic facilities around the country to reinforce the
need for all air traffic personnel to adhere to the highest
professional standards.
The Call to Action will also include an independent review of
the FAA’s air traffic control training curriculum and
qualifications and the expansion of NATCA’s Professional
Standards committees. The FAA is currently conducting a review of
the air traffic control system to look at issues of staffing and
scheduling.
As a result, the FAA is investigating additional incidents
involving unresponsive air traffic controllers. The FAA has
suspended an air traffic controller at Boeing Field/King County
International Airport (BFI) in Seattle, WA for falling asleep
during his morning shift on April 11, 2011. The controller
was monitoring local traffic in the airport tower cab while two
other controllers worked arriving and departing aircraft. The
FAA is investigating this incident. The controller is already
facing disciplinary action for falling asleep on two separate
occasions during the early evening shift on January 6, 2011.
The agency has also suspended two controllers for an incident
that occurred during the early morning hours of March 29, 2011 at
Preston Smith International Airport (LBB) in Lubbock, TX.
During the midnight shift, the Lubbock controllers failed to hand
off control of a departing aircraft to the Fort Worth Air Route
Traffic Control Center. It also took repeated attempts for a
controller at the Fort Worth Air Traffic Control Center to reach
the Lubbock controllers to hand off an inbound aircraft.