DieselDragRacer
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2006
- Posts
- 11,056
http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/...ts-air-traffic-controllers-under-fire/99005/1
The number of close calls and near-collisions at U.S. airports is steadily rising, leading some to point fingers at air traffic controllers.
"As many as one in four air traffic controllers at any given control center are novices, barely out of training, and some of the recent problems in the air provide a frightening picture of the near-accidents in the air that have been avoided," ABC News reports. "Many controllers are reaching retirement bringing in an abundance of new blood."
In March of this year, the National Transportation Safety Board began to require that such incidents be reported. Since then, there are nearly a dozen cases that NTSB is investigating, according to The Washington Post.
The Post took an in-depth look into this increase in near misses, citing an incident over Maryland involving a Continental aircraft in March. ABC looked at an incident in April when a Southwest aircraft experienced a close call with a helicopter in Houston. One month later, an air traffic controller reportedly directed a US Airways plane into the path of a departing aircraft in Anchorage.
Just last week, a United aircraft en route to D.C.'s Reagan National Airport that nearly collided with a private jet departing from nearby Washington Dulles International Airport, according to the Post. In this instance, it was an on-board warning system that notified the aircraft, not air traffic control.
"It's the air traffic controller that's supposed to control this situation" John DeLisi, deputy director of aviation for NTSB, told the Post. "When it had to kick in and do its thing, that wasn't a good controller."
According to the Post, the Washington-metro area has already had more near misses reported in the past six months than last year's total of 18. The paper reported that air traffic controllers made 949 errors last year.
As with any time this topic comes up in the media, most point fingers at the inexperienced controllers and old technology. A new system is being developed, but even that is controversial and expensive. In a statement to ABC, Federal Aviation Administration officials say this rise in near misses is not due to inexperienced controllers,
The number of close calls and near-collisions at U.S. airports is steadily rising, leading some to point fingers at air traffic controllers.
"As many as one in four air traffic controllers at any given control center are novices, barely out of training, and some of the recent problems in the air provide a frightening picture of the near-accidents in the air that have been avoided," ABC News reports. "Many controllers are reaching retirement bringing in an abundance of new blood."
In March of this year, the National Transportation Safety Board began to require that such incidents be reported. Since then, there are nearly a dozen cases that NTSB is investigating, according to The Washington Post.
The Post took an in-depth look into this increase in near misses, citing an incident over Maryland involving a Continental aircraft in March. ABC looked at an incident in April when a Southwest aircraft experienced a close call with a helicopter in Houston. One month later, an air traffic controller reportedly directed a US Airways plane into the path of a departing aircraft in Anchorage.
Just last week, a United aircraft en route to D.C.'s Reagan National Airport that nearly collided with a private jet departing from nearby Washington Dulles International Airport, according to the Post. In this instance, it was an on-board warning system that notified the aircraft, not air traffic control.
"It's the air traffic controller that's supposed to control this situation" John DeLisi, deputy director of aviation for NTSB, told the Post. "When it had to kick in and do its thing, that wasn't a good controller."
According to the Post, the Washington-metro area has already had more near misses reported in the past six months than last year's total of 18. The paper reported that air traffic controllers made 949 errors last year.
As with any time this topic comes up in the media, most point fingers at the inexperienced controllers and old technology. A new system is being developed, but even that is controversial and expensive. In a statement to ABC, Federal Aviation Administration officials say this rise in near misses is not due to inexperienced controllers,
