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DCA Tower goes unmanned

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densoo

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 2, 2004
Posts
2,054
Washington (CNN) -- Two planes landed safely early Wednesday morning at Washington's Reagan National Airport after they were unable to reach anyone at the airport's air traffic control tower, according to the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board.

The FAA would not comment on a media report that the airport controller had fallen asleep. NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson said, "All we know is the controller was unresponsive and we want to know why."

The situation began at 12:10 a.m. Wednesday when an American Airlines plane attempted to call the tower to get clearance to land and got no answer, Knudson said. The plane had been in contact with a regional air traffic control facility, and a controller at that facility advised the pilot that he, too had been unable to contact anyone at the tower, according to a recording of air control traffic at the website liveatc.net.

"1012," the controller said, referring to the airline's flight number, "called a couple of times on landline and tried to call on the commercial line and there's no answer.

"The tower is apparently unmanned," the controller said.

Apparently asked why by a pilot, the controller later responded, "Well, I'm going to take a guess and say that the controller got locked out. I've heard of this happening before. Fortunately, it's not very often," he said.
Knudson said the plane landed without incident in a situation termed an "uncontrolled airport."

About 15 minutes later, a United flight also failed to reach the tower and landed without any problems, he said. After that, the controller in the tower was back in communication. Knudson said one controller was staffing the tower at the time this occurred.

FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said the agency is investigating what happened. "The FAA is looking into staffing issues and whether existing procedures were followed appropriately."

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on Wednesday ordered the FAA to schedule two controllers on the overnight shift.

"It is not acceptable to have just one controller in the tower managing air traffic in this critical air space. I have also asked FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt to study staffing levels at other airports around the country," he said.

Knudson said it's not uncommon for planes to land at airports in such a situation. He said control towers at some fields around the country shut down for the night and planes still land. However, he could not comment on whether that practice was ever used at Reagan National.

Knudson did not have information on how many passengers and crew were aboard the two planes involved in the situation Wednesday morning.
 
Blah blah big effin deal.

Pilots perform another safe landing in spite of abnormal operations. Where was that mentioned?

I guess we need our hands held on every leg...its amazing we can operate into airports where any other airplanes can land or takeoff.
 
I didn't read the article as being about the pilots.

"Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on Wednesday ordered the FAA to schedule two controllers on the overnight shift."

Mission accomplished.
 
Must have been a slow news day. How often do we land at uncontrolled airports and think nothing of it?
 
Must have been a slow news day. How often do we land at uncontrolled airports and think nothing of it?

Maybe he/she had some bad sushi at Makoto...maybe was in the bathroom for lack of Imodium.
 
"Washington Reagan Airport Arrival information Papa, 0458 zulu . . . landing and departing Rwy 19 . . .CTAF procedures in effect, due to a bad burrito". :laugh:

 
Last edited:
Great statement: "Staffing to budget"--aka safety when affordable.

WASHINGTON – National Air Traffic Controllers Association President Paul Rinaldi issued the following statement stressing the need for safe staffing of front-line, fully certified air traffic controllers on all shifts, particularly the midnight (overnight) shifts, in the wake of Wednesday morning’s incident at DCA Tower (Washington National Airport).

“During the incident at DCA on the midnight shift Wednesday morning, there was one FAA supervisor on duty, instead of a front-line controller.

This was an FAA management supervisor, not a front-line controller.

“We applaud Transportation Secretary LaHood for quickly moving to put safety first and fix the situation at DCA yesterday by ordering additional staffing – a front-line controller – on the midnight shift, which took effect last night.

“NATCA has long been outspoken in its opposition to one-person staffing on any shift. In fact, the NATCA membership, in its strong commitment to aviation safety, adopted language in its formal constitution nearly 20 years ago opposing one-person staffing on a shift. That language remains in effect today.

“One-person shifts are unsafe. Period. The most horrifying proof of this came on Aug. 27, 2006, when 49 people lost their lives aboard Comair Flight 191 in Lexington, Ky., when there was only one controller assigned to duty in the tower handling multiple controllers’ responsibilities alone. One person staffing was wrong then and it’s wrong now.

“We also applaud Secretary LaHood for calling yesterday for an FAA study of staffing levels around the country at other airports. Wednesday’s incident clearly shows the need for an urgent, comprehensive, nationwide staffing study. We continue to work closely with Congress on FAA reauthorization language that calls for such a study.

“The administration inherited an unsafe policy of staffing to budget instead of putting safety first. We fully support the administration’s aggressive actions to change this policy. Safety should always be the top priority in any discussion of aviation policy.”
 
“We also applaud Secretary LaHood for calling yesterday for an FAA study of staffing levels around the country at other airports. Wednesday’s incident clearly shows the need for an urgent, comprehensive, nationwide staffing study. We continue to work closely with Congress on FAA reauthorization language that calls for such a study.

Oh boy another "study" that will take 3 years and yield zero results.

Whenever I hear study I think of them saying this "We need to make it look like we are doing something, while doing absolutely nothing".
 

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