Catastrophe was avoided earlier last week when two incoming planes  at Reagan National had to be guided in by none other than their own pilots.  The air traffic tower was unresponsive.   The planes were coming in during the midnight shift and only one person was on that shift in the control tower.

An investigation proved that the person on duty, a supervisor, had fallen asleep. 

From Washingtonpost.com:

Federal Aviation Administrator Randy Babbitt said Friday that he will revamp air traffic control guidelines nationwide after an incident in which the lone supervisor on duty in the Reagan National Airport tower slept while two airliners landed on their own. 

“Effective immediately, we are instituting an interim plan to ensure we do not repeat another situation like the one at Reagan National Airport Wednesday morning,” Babbitt said. “I have ordered a nationwide review of the air traffic control system. . . . I am determined to make sure we do not repeat Wednesday’s unacceptable event”

Babbitt said he would order radar controllers who guide planes as they descend from cruising altitude to confirm that controllers in airport towers are prepared to handle incoming flights before handing them off.

There are just some things that should be common sense.  in 2006, nearly 50 people were killed in a plane crash in Kentucky.  The plane had gone down a short runway not intended for commercial flights.  The air traffic controller didn’t catch it.  He was working solo duty.  There was much rattling and rumbling then over improved safety precautions and doing away with 1 person shifts.  Apparently someone forgot to send the memo to Reagan National. 

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (the ‘union’) spoke strongly about the need for more than one person in the control tower:

Also on Friday, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association urged that staffing be doubled at other airports that have one person in the tower during overnight shifts. The controllers union said those include San Diego; Sacramento; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Tucson; Orlando; Reno, Nev.; and Burlington, Vt.

“We believe one-person mid[night] shifts, and one-person shifts anytime, are unsafe,” said Doug Church, a union spokesman. “We must have two. Some large airports currently have more than that. . . . [Chicago’s] O’Hare has three on its mid shift, plus a supervisor makes four total personnel.”

Most major airports that operate 24 hours a day have two controllers in the tower for the midnight-to-6 a.m. shift., Church said. Dulles International Airport and Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport have two, as do the major airports in New York, Newark and Boston.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood immediately ordered a second controller into the National tower for the midnight to 6 a.m. shift after Wednesday’s incident.

Human beings staff air traffic control towers.  Human beings are subject to illness, sleep apnea, narcolepsy, medication reactions and all sorts of other conditions that might render them less than capable during work time.  How many shifts had the person at Reagan worked?  How many hours?   Do those people have some of the same regulations truckers do?  Obviously not all safety precautions were taken.  It just seems like common sense to have a back up person, especially when so many lives are at stake both on the ground and in a plane.  The potential for disaster is great.  Therefore, the government shouldn’t have to be prompted to do what is right. 

The Powers That Be should have listened to the union long ago–long before the crash in Kentucky.  Hopefully this is the last time we need to have this discussion.  I mean, what does it take?

23 Thoughts to “The Powers That Be should have listened to the ‘Union’”

  1. Emma

    Chances are very good that the lone air-traffic controller will not face serious consequences and will keep his job. And just think of all the jobs “created and saved” once we double up on overnight shifts even at airports where the late-night flights are few and far between!

    Lots of professions require people to stay awake all night. When I was a hospital nurse, being caught sleeping was a firing offense. They didn’t staff nurses there for the sole purpose of keeping others awake, but to do a job that also involved protecting people’s lives. Medical screening should keep narcoleptics and people with other conditions and medications out of such jobs.

  2. Juturna

    Lots of critical professions don’t have one only person on duty overnight. I’d imagine this area is a tad busier than Burlington Vt. Wonder if they’re on a fixed shift or rotating shift – circadian rythems have been examined for a long time and found to be very difficult to maintain when working a rotating shift. Fixed shifts have proved to be more healthy but are more expensive to maintain. Staffing positions like this is difficult – you have to meet budget constraints limitationss but staff for preparation or you’ll get complaints. I’d imagine hospitals have the same situation – who knows when a 10 car pile up with a bus will occur. Some industries simply can’t spead out workload over time.

  3. marinm

    Wait. A government employee falls asleep on the job? Really..? And the answer is to hire a second one to watch the first one? …outstanding.

    1. Why limit to government employees? Commercial Pilots and co pilots don’t work for the government, yet when the safety of that many people is involved, 4 eyes are better than 2 and 2 heads are better than one.

      I don’t think it is a matter of watching each other as providing back up. What if a solo controller got food poisoning or had a heart attack? You don’t just excuse yourself.

      Most modern unions are very concerned with the safety of their members. Capt. Sully travels the nation on flight safety issues. The flight industry, like many other industries likes to cut corners and go on the cheap. They aren’t the movers and shakers of the safety industry.

  4. Emma

    A single incident, and people all over are going apeshit and wanting more money spent to fix it, want to blame Reagan, to show how unions are so sacred. One incident. I’ll fly any day of the week with very little anxiety. Getting on the Beltway with the usual mix of texters, phone jabberers, crossword-puzzlers, makeup artists and just general buttheads is a lot scarier, and the death toll in a single week is WAY higher than the thousands of flights that take off and land every single day without incident. Stuff happens.

    After all of the money spent and layer upon layer of bureaucracy created after 9/11, are we even one iota safer? Are all of the intelligence agencies talking to each other (well, except for the DNI chief, who had no clue about the terror arrests in London). Haven’t a few things slipped through the cracks anyway? Again, stuff happens.

  5. Juturna

    I’ll continue to fly too…. one to watch the other?? Jeepers, does back up mean anything? How about prevention? What if the guy has a heart attack and dies on the spot, chokes, – that happens?

    I know, keep his big fat government pension and outstanding health insurance from his wife and kiddies….

    I’d be interested to know how many hours the person worked straight that week, which shifts and you know silly things like facts. I’d be interested in their work history and a whole lot more than what was told to us. Then if they should be fired, they should.

    1. Totally agree, Juturna. I have heard he had been working the graveyard shift all week. I haven’t seen details though.

      My husband has sleep apnia. Before it was diagnosed, he fell asleep in all sorts of places he shouldn’t have. There is a difference in someone with an undiagnosed medical condition and someone who just naps on the job because no one is watching.

      You are right about back up also. A medical emergency could put hundreds of passengers and people on the ground in grave danger.

  6. marinm

    The flight industry has nothing to do with the controllers in the tower. The controllers are government employees. One messed up. Backup plans exist and the pilots executed a safe landing. But, I’m very willing to discuss the conversion from government controllers to the private market.

    At the after-hours operations center we ran when we were in low coverage situations we’d prop the door open and tell the guards to check on the 1 or 2 employees we had in the center every 30 mins to make sure no one was dead. OSHA reg covered. 😉

    1. Marin, how did you feel about those jerks who used to do the job of TSA? They were unprofessional, low skilled workers. They waved their friends through.

      Thank you, I prefer the government nazis. At least I know they have been trained, unlike the fools who used to be watching over our security.

      As for the flight industry having nothing to do with controllers in the tower…you can bet your sweet bippie they have had plenty to say about them. Their very lives depend on it.

      Where was the back up plan in the control tower? crickets…there wasn’t one.

      Your hostility to public employees is so obvious that it often detracts from your credibility. What after hours operations are you referring to?

      Quick question–have you ever belonged to a union or a professional association that addressed standards and safety?

  7. Wolverine

    Juturna is right about the fixed versus rotating shifts. I have worked both at some time in my life. Those rotating shifts are really hard on the body rhythms. It seemed that every time I drew the late, late shift in the rotation, it became a readjustment all over again.

  8. marinm

    You are right MH, TSA never fails at their assigned job and weapons never make it on to planes now that they’re on the job.

    I got some land to sell you in Florida.

    The backup plan they had was that they landed those planes by talking to the Herndon center and with the pilots relaying to one another what they were doing. Happens every day at the unmanned airports all over this country.

    No, thankfully I’ve never been a slave to a union.

    Nazi’s? Really? Pulling out the n-word?

    1. I am not saying TSA is perfect but it is far superior to the fly by night companies that used to be at many airports. For starters, I like those doing that kind of security detail to be able to communicate with me in English. Is that being petty?

      Yes, as to word Nazi. No one sent me the memo that you didn’t allow it.

      I believe I also asked if you had been a member of a professional organizations whose goal was to ensure decent working conditions and safety. Now why would that make you a slave? You are paying them so you are the slave, I would assume. I think perhaps that is the reason for your war on professional assocciations–I think you don’t understand their real intent.

      I have been and I never felt enslaved at all. I felt there was strength in numbers and that someone had my back.

  9. Dan Cooper

    @marinm
    That’s exactly what I was thinking 🙂 Gee, one guy can’t do his job so lets staff a guy to watch the other guy.

    1. So are you now Dan Cooper or You Lie?

      I cannot break the You Lie habit. Is there a shot for this malady?

      Just out of curiosity, how would you and Marin feel about being on a cross country flight with no co-pilot?

      I wouldn’t get on the plane. I have read for years that air traffic controllers are in one of the highest stressed jobs in this country. I believe it. There have been too many studies using different stress factors.

      Maybe we could just replace the graveyard shift with a computer. Is that what you are suggesting? I would think that given the proximity to the WH, the Capitol, the Pentagon, it would be more important than ever to have back up in those towers.

      It is unacceptable that there are not at least 2 people on this post at all times, in all commercial airports, regardless of time.

  10. Wolverine

    “United Flight 472, this is Hal in the control tower.”

  11. marinm

    I’d be comfortable if the computer did all the flying. I mean, really that’s what happens now a days, right? I think the only thing the computer isn’t allowed to do is to take off (not that its a capability thing but just humans wanting a human to do it). Human pilots exist so that people feel ‘safe’ knowing a human can respond to an in-flight issue (problem or emergency). So, a flight without a co-pilot. Sure.. Ever fly in a small plane like a Cessna? 1 guy or gal at the helm.. I think Bus drivers should also have co-drivers.. OMG! Think of the children in school buses!!!

    Let’s also not forget about ACSA (airborne collision avoidance system).

    I don’t think DCA (Reagan Airport) is the only tower watching the restricted space over the WH. Pretty sure that the Herndon FAA center keeps an eye out. 😉

    “For starters, I like those doing that kind of security detail to be able to communicate with me in English. Is that being petty?”

    Two things. The dark screen would be very happy to see that statement *and* TSA doesn’t give you security. They don’t protect you. They give you a ‘show’ of security called ‘security theatre’ and people buy into it thinking that they are safe. TSA is a joke but the punchline is the American public and taxpayers.

    1. @Marin, I am sitting on my hands not to have bad words coming out of them. I do expect people with whom I have to interact directly to be able to speak English to me. I don’t care what other languages they can speak with other people or if I hear them speaking other languages. If their job is to communicate with me then I expect to be able to understand them.

      I don’t do hand signals grunts or grimaces. Don’t play that dark screen game with me.

      No one who flies should think they are totally safe. However, I don’t think TSA is a joke. Is that just part of the war on public employees? Thought so.

      And by the way, you own me an apology regarding the English remark. There is a huge difference in expecting that vital information be conveyed in a language most of the people can understand and someone who expects no one to speak a foreign language in their presence.

      I have not one problem in the world if someone behind the scenes speaks swahili, Mandarin chinese, etc. However, when it is their job to communicate with the public, I expect to be able to understand them, as do most people. Hopefully their “talking to the public language” is understandable English. The rubes are the ones who walk into Lowes and if someone is speaking Spanish to someone else, they go nuts.

  12. Dan Cooper

    I’m Dan Cooper now Moon, you couldn’t seem to call me ‘hello’ since that wasn’t a name so I picked a name. Hopefully it will be easier for you to call me by name rather than calling me names 🙂

    1. Now come on Dan, you lie is what I see first. I wouldn’t call you that if it weren’t your logo. Is name calling the new victim mentality?

      I’ll do my best but don’t expect 100% perfection from me. I am just a lowly govt. worker.

  13. marinm

    @Moon-howler

    I would argue that one of the root arguements the dark screen has is that they want workers to speak english. It’s not a bad arguement to make. Just pointing out that you and the dark screen have a point of agreement.

    “No one who flies should think they are totally safe.” That’s an interesting statement. I think most people want to think that for having pictures taken of their naked bodies and for people to be fondled in public that they think they’re getting safety in return. They’re not. So, if your statement is true why go through the theatre of it all? Why not just return to the old school walk up to the gate?

    “Is that just part of the war on public employees? Thought so.” Your making an assumption and incorrect one that it’s about public employees. I think public employees are a factor (a large one) but I don’t think the blame is soley on those shoulders.

  14. Pat.Herve

    marin – it is very funny to me how much you really dislike unions and Public employees. What you might not realize, is that in your job as an employee of a Federal Contractor, working on a Federal project – most of your work rules are based on the work rules of the Unionized workers, and other Federal legislation.

    Contractors get paid overtime for more than 40 hours of work. The prevailing wage of your position, based on the union employee. Your benefit package must be comparable or better than the union employee. And there are many many documented cases where employees of contractors just worked, and spent the money without delivering anything of value (FBI Case Management), or just blew the money delivering deliverable’s, on dead contracts. http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/software/who-killed-the-virtual-case-file No shortage of the private company ripping off the public dollar here.

    1. @Pat
      Thanks for bringing that up. All the people who are working for as contractors are really only a half degree away from living off the public coffers, the same as those who do it directly and get their paycheck from Uncle Sam. If the government were to stop using contracts, many people would be without a job.

      Is this some sort of pecking order thing I don’t understand?

  15. Dan Cooper

    @Moon-howler

    To tell you the truth I don’t expect anything else Moon. You said you won’t call me ‘hello’ because it’s not a name, “it’s a greeting” (even though most here don’t go by names but you still refer to them by their handle). So I picked a name to see what would happen.

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