2 Planes Land While ATC Naps @ DCA
03-23-2011, 06:36 PM
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2 Planes Land While ATC Naps @ DCA
From Associated Press:
WASHINGTON — Two airliners landed at Reagan National Airport near Washington without control tower clearance because the air traffic supervisor was asleep, safety and aviation officials said Wednesday.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood directed that two air traffic controllers be on duty at Reagan National Airport late at night following the incident and said in a statement that he ordered the Federal Aviation Administration administrator to study tower staffing at other airports around the country.
The supervisor at Reagan National — the only controller scheduled for duty in the tower around midnight Tuesday when the incident happened — had fallen asleep, said an aviation official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the incident.
The National Transportation Safety Board is gathering information on the occurrence to decide whether to open a formal investigation, board spokesman Peter Knudson said.
The pilots of the two commercial planes were unable to reach the tower, but they were in communication with a regional air traffic control facility, Knudson said. That facility is in Virginia, about 40 miles from the airport.
Regional air traffic facilities handle aircraft within roughly a 50-mile radius of an airport, but landings, takeoffs and planes within about 3 miles of an airport are handled by controllers in the airport tower.
After pilots were unable to raise the airport tower by radio, they asked controllers in Warrenton to call the tower, Knudson said. Repeated calls to the tower went unanswered, he said.
T
he planes involved were American Airlines flight 1012 and United Airlines flight 628T, Knudson said.
The Federal Aviation Administration released a statement confirming the incident.
"The FAA is looking into staffing issues and whether existing procedures were followed appropriately," agency spokeswoman Laura Brown said in an email.
It's unlikely the safety of the planes was at risk since the pilots would have used a radio frequency for the airport tower to advise nearby aircraft of their intention to land and to make sure that no other planes also intended to land at that time, aviation safety experts said. At that time of night, air traffic would have been light, they said.
Also, controllers at the regional facility, using radar, would have been able to advise the pilots of other nearby planes, experts said.
The primary risk would have been if there were equipment on the runway when the planes landed, they said.
But the incident raises serious questions about controller fatigue, a longstanding safety concern, said John Goglia, a former NTSB board member.
"You have to watch your schedules to make sure (controllers) have adequate rest," Goglia said. "It's worse when nothing is going on. When it's busy, you have to stay engaged. When it's quiet, all they have to be is a little bit tired and they'll fall asleep."
Aviation experts emphasized the unusual nature of the incident.
"I'm not sure that in all the years I've been flying airplanes that I can recall coming into a major airport and I couldn't get hold of a controller in the airport tower," said aviation safety consultant John Cox, who spent 35 years as an airline and corporate pilot.
However, planes, including smaller airliners, land all the time at small airports that don't have control towers or controllers to clear landings.
WASHINGTON — Two airliners landed at Reagan National Airport near Washington without control tower clearance because the air traffic supervisor was asleep, safety and aviation officials said Wednesday.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood directed that two air traffic controllers be on duty at Reagan National Airport late at night following the incident and said in a statement that he ordered the Federal Aviation Administration administrator to study tower staffing at other airports around the country.
The supervisor at Reagan National — the only controller scheduled for duty in the tower around midnight Tuesday when the incident happened — had fallen asleep, said an aviation official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the incident.
The National Transportation Safety Board is gathering information on the occurrence to decide whether to open a formal investigation, board spokesman Peter Knudson said.
The pilots of the two commercial planes were unable to reach the tower, but they were in communication with a regional air traffic control facility, Knudson said. That facility is in Virginia, about 40 miles from the airport.
Regional air traffic facilities handle aircraft within roughly a 50-mile radius of an airport, but landings, takeoffs and planes within about 3 miles of an airport are handled by controllers in the airport tower.
After pilots were unable to raise the airport tower by radio, they asked controllers in Warrenton to call the tower, Knudson said. Repeated calls to the tower went unanswered, he said.
T
he planes involved were American Airlines flight 1012 and United Airlines flight 628T, Knudson said.
The Federal Aviation Administration released a statement confirming the incident.
"The FAA is looking into staffing issues and whether existing procedures were followed appropriately," agency spokeswoman Laura Brown said in an email.
It's unlikely the safety of the planes was at risk since the pilots would have used a radio frequency for the airport tower to advise nearby aircraft of their intention to land and to make sure that no other planes also intended to land at that time, aviation safety experts said. At that time of night, air traffic would have been light, they said.
Also, controllers at the regional facility, using radar, would have been able to advise the pilots of other nearby planes, experts said.
The primary risk would have been if there were equipment on the runway when the planes landed, they said.
But the incident raises serious questions about controller fatigue, a longstanding safety concern, said John Goglia, a former NTSB board member.
"You have to watch your schedules to make sure (controllers) have adequate rest," Goglia said. "It's worse when nothing is going on. When it's busy, you have to stay engaged. When it's quiet, all they have to be is a little bit tired and they'll fall asleep."
Aviation experts emphasized the unusual nature of the incident.
"I'm not sure that in all the years I've been flying airplanes that I can recall coming into a major airport and I couldn't get hold of a controller in the airport tower," said aviation safety consultant John Cox, who spent 35 years as an airline and corporate pilot.
However, planes, including smaller airliners, land all the time at small airports that don't have control towers or controllers to clear landings.
03-23-2011, 06:41 PM
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Same article with "Media Video Clip".....
FAA Investigates Report of Air Traffic Controller Falling Asleep On The Job - FoxNews.com
FAA Investigates Report of Air Traffic Controller Falling Asleep On The Job - FoxNews.com
03-23-2011, 07:15 PM
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Pilots asleep in the cockpit. Controllers asleep in the tower. Sounds like an industry wide problem. I just don't want to hear that this guy was so "Involved" in looking over his schedule on a laptop, that he forgot to do his job.
03-23-2011, 08:02 PM
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Originally Posted by vagabond
"I'm not sure that in all the years I've been flying airplanes that I can recall coming into a major airport and I couldn't get hold of a controller in the airport tower," said aviation safety consultant John Cox, who spent 35 years as an airline and corporate pilot.
I wonder if the SAM controllers were asleep as well.
03-23-2011, 08:09 PM
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Originally Posted by NoBeta
Pilots asleep in the cockpit. Controllers asleep in the tower. Sounds like an industry wide problem. I just don't want to hear that this guy was so "Involved" in looking over his schedule on a laptop, that he forgot to do his job.
03-23-2011, 09:33 PM
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So, dumb question, but why did these guys land without a clearance? I know with flag ops, less gas, but still, who would land without any clearance on the radio? Dulles, BWI, there was other options...
03-23-2011, 09:37 PM
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Originally Posted by angry tanker
So, dumb question, but why did these guys land without a clearance? I know with flag ops, less gas, but still, who would land without any clearance on the radio? Dulles, BWI, there was other options...
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