Two airliners landed without the assistance of controllers at Reagan National Airport in Washing D.C., a little past midnight on Wednesday this week. The lone night-shift controller, working from midnight to 6:00 a.m., was asleep when the two planes radioed in for instructions.
According to The Washington Post, the controller used the excuse of a “stuck mike” to explain the lack of response to the pilots from the controller tower. He later admitted to being asleep on the job, reported the Associated Press.
The administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Randy Babbitt, said that he was “personally outraged that this controller did not meet his responsibility to land these two airplanes,” added the Associated Press.
The planes, which had a total of 165 passengers, were able to land safely with no deaths or injuries.
The pilots radioed another control tower in the area for assistance, the Potomac Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) facility, which usually does not handle plane landings or takeoffs. The controller there said if they were to land at Reagan National, they should follow the protocol for landing at an “uncontrolled” airport.
The Associated Press also noted the added risks imposed on this landing due to the proximity of the Reagan National Airport to Washington D.C. “This is not a mom-and-pop airport for small planes and is in the vicinity of some very sensitive airspace,” said Rory Kay, a former Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) safety chairman.
Nighttime landings are particularly hazardous because nighttime maintenance crews move across the runways, sometimes towing planes.
Promptly after the incident, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood ordered the staffing at the Reagan National Airport to be increased and called on the FAA to investigate airport staffing issues across the nation.
LaHood said, “It is not acceptable to have just one controller in the tower managing air traffic in this critical airspace,” reported The Washington Post.
“We believe one-person mid[night] shifts and one-person shifts anytime are unsafe,” a spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) says. “We must have two. Some large airports currently have more that.”
FAA’s Randy Babbit says that he has “ordered a nationwide review of the air traffic control system to confirm the appropriate backup procedures and equipment are in place and in use,” reported The Washington Post. He also adds that pilots can divert to a different airport if there are issues with the controllers.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is also investigating the incident.
The Washington Post reported on a similar incident last year, in which a lone controller was locked out of the controller room because he forgot his swipe card. A more deadly incident occurred five years ago, killing 47 passengers and 2 crewmembers, when a plane turned onto a runway that was too short for takeoff, said The Washington Post.
An exclusive report by the Associated Press revealed that controller errors have doubled in the past year.
According to The Washington Post, the controller used the excuse of a “stuck mike” to explain the lack of response to the pilots from the controller tower. He later admitted to being asleep on the job, reported the Associated Press.
The administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Randy Babbitt, said that he was “personally outraged that this controller did not meet his responsibility to land these two airplanes,” added the Associated Press.
The planes, which had a total of 165 passengers, were able to land safely with no deaths or injuries.
The pilots radioed another control tower in the area for assistance, the Potomac Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) facility, which usually does not handle plane landings or takeoffs. The controller there said if they were to land at Reagan National, they should follow the protocol for landing at an “uncontrolled” airport.
The Associated Press also noted the added risks imposed on this landing due to the proximity of the Reagan National Airport to Washington D.C. “This is not a mom-and-pop airport for small planes and is in the vicinity of some very sensitive airspace,” said Rory Kay, a former Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) safety chairman.
Nighttime landings are particularly hazardous because nighttime maintenance crews move across the runways, sometimes towing planes.
Promptly after the incident, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood ordered the staffing at the Reagan National Airport to be increased and called on the FAA to investigate airport staffing issues across the nation.
LaHood said, “It is not acceptable to have just one controller in the tower managing air traffic in this critical airspace,” reported The Washington Post.
“We believe one-person mid[night] shifts and one-person shifts anytime are unsafe,” a spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) says. “We must have two. Some large airports currently have more that.”
FAA’s Randy Babbit says that he has “ordered a nationwide review of the air traffic control system to confirm the appropriate backup procedures and equipment are in place and in use,” reported The Washington Post. He also adds that pilots can divert to a different airport if there are issues with the controllers.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is also investigating the incident.
The Washington Post reported on a similar incident last year, in which a lone controller was locked out of the controller room because he forgot his swipe card. A more deadly incident occurred five years ago, killing 47 passengers and 2 crewmembers, when a plane turned onto a runway that was too short for takeoff, said The Washington Post.
An exclusive report by the Associated Press revealed that controller errors have doubled in the past year.
Friends Read Free