DieselDragRacer
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WASHINGTON – At least four more air-traffic controllers are suspected of nodding off on duty at three separate airports across the nation, the government said Wednesday.
A medical plane carrying an ill patient was forced to land on its own early Wednesday at Reno-Tahoe International Airport when the lone controller in the tower fell asleep, the Federal Aviation Administration said. The controller, who has been suspended, was unresponsive to radio calls and other communication attempts for 16 minutes, the agency said.
The FAA announced that it is also investigating a controller who fell asleep Monday at Boeing Field/King County International Airport in Seattle and two controllers who were unresponsive at Preston Smith International Airport in Lubbock, Texas, on March 29. The agency had earlier revealed that an air-traffic supervisor fell asleep March 23 at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and a controller slept for five hours at McGhee Tyson Airport in Knoxville on Feb. 19.
As the incidents pile up, sleep experts say it demonstrates that the agency faces a systemic issue with the thousands of people expected to work through the night in safety-critical jobs. Scientific research shows that workers on midnight shifts make more errors because it is so difficult for the body to adapt to sleeping during the day, they say.
“I would guess that this is one of those things that has been going on for some time and it is just now coming to attention,” says Greg Belenky, who heads the Sleep and Performance Research Center at Washington State University in Spokane.
Belenky and others say the answer is to allow controlled napping, but the FAA so far has balked at similar suggestions for airline pilots.
Wednesday, the agency said it would add a second controller at 26 airport towers and one other air-traffic center on overnight shifts where controllers had been allowed to work alone. The agency last month added a second controller overnight at Reagan National.
“I am totally outraged by these incidents,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement.
Top FAA and air-traffic union officials will also tour facilities across the country to reinforce the need for “professionalism,” the agency said.
A medical plane carrying an ill patient was forced to land on its own early Wednesday at Reno-Tahoe International Airport when the lone controller in the tower fell asleep, the Federal Aviation Administration said. The controller, who has been suspended, was unresponsive to radio calls and other communication attempts for 16 minutes, the agency said.
The FAA announced that it is also investigating a controller who fell asleep Monday at Boeing Field/King County International Airport in Seattle and two controllers who were unresponsive at Preston Smith International Airport in Lubbock, Texas, on March 29. The agency had earlier revealed that an air-traffic supervisor fell asleep March 23 at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and a controller slept for five hours at McGhee Tyson Airport in Knoxville on Feb. 19.
As the incidents pile up, sleep experts say it demonstrates that the agency faces a systemic issue with the thousands of people expected to work through the night in safety-critical jobs. Scientific research shows that workers on midnight shifts make more errors because it is so difficult for the body to adapt to sleeping during the day, they say.
“I would guess that this is one of those things that has been going on for some time and it is just now coming to attention,” says Greg Belenky, who heads the Sleep and Performance Research Center at Washington State University in Spokane.
Belenky and others say the answer is to allow controlled napping, but the FAA so far has balked at similar suggestions for airline pilots.
Wednesday, the agency said it would add a second controller at 26 airport towers and one other air-traffic center on overnight shifts where controllers had been allowed to work alone. The agency last month added a second controller overnight at Reagan National.
“I am totally outraged by these incidents,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement.
Top FAA and air-traffic union officials will also tour facilities across the country to reinforce the need for “professionalism,” the agency said.
