Transferred To Virginia Following Paid Suspension From Work

The air traffic controller whom it was determined was responsible for a mid-air collision between an airplane and a sightseeing helicopter in New York in 2009 has been transferred to Virginia and returned to duty, and the relatives of some of those fatally injured in the accident are none too happy about the arrangement.

The controller is 42-year-old Carlyle Turner. An NTSB investigation found that he was on his cell phone while on duty engaged in a personal conversation, and he missed an incorrect frequency change readback from the pilot of the fixed-wing airplane. When another controller needed to warn pilot Steven Altman of the helicopter traffic, he was unable to do so because he was on the wrong frequency.

According to a report in the New York Post, after being placed on paid suspension, Turner has been transferred to the Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport, and that has outraged the families of some of those who were killed in the accident. Pilot Steven Altman's widow Pamela told the paper that "he should have been fired, he should have been prosecuted, and he should have gone to jail."

The federal government has paid $34.7 million to the family members of those fatally injured in negligence settlements stemming from the accident.

An FAA spokeswoman said that air traffic controllers have the "same due process rights as other federal employees, and are also covered by the provisions of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association contract.”

FMI: www.faa.gov