Controller Was Injured During A Thunderstorm Last September

The FAA will be inspecting control towers across the country following a lightning strike in Baltimore last September that injured an air traffic controller. Hundreds of towers are to be inspected, according to the agency.

The strike occurred September 12 last year at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, according to a report from the Associated Press, but the plan for inspection of towers was not made public until the AP made a Freedom of Information Act request concerning the incident. The FAA reportedly said in a statement that the Baltimore incident was "the first of its kind in FAA history," and that an assessment of all of its 440 control towers will be conducted. The agency will pay particular attention to more than 200 towers that were built prior to 1978, when it first standardized lightning protection systems for the facilities.

The controller was injured when he was activating an emergency generator during a thunderstorm as a preventative measure that is standard operating procedure for assuring runway lights and other equipment stay on  during such weather events. His hand was on the generator switch when he saw a lightning flash and felt a jolt of electricity through his ring finger. He said in an interview it was like someone had hit the tip of his finger with a tool.

The controller, Edward Boyd, was taken to a hospital for treatment and was off work for two months following the incident. He says he still has lingering nerve problems in his hand that will require surgery. Still, he calls the accident a "fluke."

The FAA has earmarked $400,000 for the assessment of tower lightning protection systems, according to the AP. Preliminary work is already under way.

FMI: www.faa.gov