There's only 1 controller for this area during this time interval. Budget cuts.

This was a SUPERVISOR that was probably covering for the regular controller that WAS on a break.

Don't be stupid, one person could NEVER do it alone for hours. BTW, it was me that ACCIDENTALLY clicked on a vote!

My interpretation from this reading:

"...the single controller — a supervisor — was scheduled for duty in the tower at that time but had fallen asleep."

Sounds like 1 responsible person for the whole tower.

Also, why aren't computers plotting out automatic landing queues during such low traffic hours?

Because a computer cannot do the job Lycurgus. If you could program a computer to be an ATC we'd have airplanes delays for days while the computer unfarted itself.

Actually it is being tested already. Mode-S will be operational in the future that will provide data link between ATC and the Flight Management Systems of aircraft. Any controller who does not believe that automation is coming is living in a dream world. Already En Route facilities have URET that has a conflict probe built in. Should that system ever be fully automated, the controller would becoming the silent observer standing by. This is happening in many industries, it will happen to ATC as well. Think about it, almost 3/4 of the FAA budget is controller salaries.....wake up NATCA.

They have a system in testing now that’s even better called ERAM. IF they can get it to work. Salt Lake Center tried it last year. Of course it didn’t work…

But there's also the GNSS setup that will be better than anyone will belive.

I would think that being relatively close to some pretty sensitive government facilities (i.e. the White House, ect., ect.) Reagan International would be a little more 'aware' of their operational importance. Someone needs a giant boot in the ass.

Even under ideal circumstances a person who is alone on the job with little to do can fall asleep. Most people have fallen asleep in a class or some other place they should not over the years.

The solution is to have 2 (TWO) ATC's on duty at ALL times. We would not even consider allowing a commercial plane to fly without a co-pilot. There are many other circumstances where we require 2 people on the job when one would probably do, in order to avoid a variety of errors that can be made by a single person.

If we are having budget problems, then lay off one or more of the TSA's. ATC are way more important than checking grandma to see if she hid some shampoo in her purse.

"We would not even consider allowing a commercial plane to fly without a co-pilot."

Actually that has already been suggested by Michael O'Leary CEO of Ryanair...

I am not surprised.. And soon we will have uneducated people doing the job. thats right government, keep messing up.

What if the pilot had a heart attack, with no copilot it would be a disaster. I don't see them getting rid of the copilot. Just one accident would cost them more than a few years of copilot salary.

We allow truckers to drive on their own for long hours without a companion. But there are also strict laws about keeping logs of consecutive driving hours and the amount of sleep that truckers must get. However, we know that some truckers falsify logs and make up for the lack of sleep with drugs like caffeine "no-Doze" or even stronger drugs. The system mostly works.

But there is a key difference. Pilots and ATC's are responsible for way more lives than just their own. Even with a trucker's worst operating error there are not likely to be dead babies on the runway. I do not want pilots and ATC's jittery or wired. I do not want pilots and ATC's to work with little sleep. And there must be redunancies in place in a public conveyance to insure there is anotherhuman backup in case of an error or problem.

Truly, if the problem is money, then lay off a few Airport Security Agents rather than allowing either ATC's or pilots to work alone.

There should not even be an argument about this common sense approach. I am amazed that any ATC is allowed to work alone now. Whoever approved such an idiotic idea is a responsible as the ATC for any problems that occur.

Too much party for a serious job, redirect to toilet cleaning until he wakes up.

It's the Government...anybody who has been in the military or worked for the government knows this way of thinking!... the hurry up and wait mentality. All the controllers they hired, to replace the ones fired in the 1981 strike, are now retiring. They have known it was coming, but are hiring at too slow of a rate to replace people. It takes an average of 2-3 years to get fully checked out once you get to a facility (That doesn't include the hiring process). ...And then theres the horrible schedules and shifts they work (2 - 8 hour quick turns in a week). They are tired! Possibly 2 eves, 2 days & a mid in a single work week! Anybody who works straight days, or even straight eves or mids.... can not relate to working a screwed up atc schedule. Your body doesn't have time to adjust....

Back on the subject, if this controller/supervisor was called in on overtime because somebody called in sick... then he may not have had enough notice to get a nap in before the shift. There are SO MANY unknowns in this story. Most controllers have SO MUCH pride in doing their job, that I'm sure this controller is crushed at having screwed up.

Also, on a midshift.... absolutely no electronics are allowed in the area. What this means is: no laptops, dvd players, kindles, mp3 players, cell phones, etc. (cell phones do interfere with the radios just a little bit if they are held within a couple inches of the radio jacks). The thinking behind this is that it would distract a controller from doing his/her job. But on the other hand, when you may only work 2 planes an hour, how do you expect someone to be able to just sit there, twiddling their thumbs, to be able to stay awake? By yourself, no less, in a tiny little tower cab.

Napping on the job? Quite appropriate for a Reagan International Airport employee................

Crash a plane for the Gipper....

WAFDOF ie Mike, i have heard too much of your crap on this none of it is anywhere close to reality. Why don't you retire and do some good for a change.

Human beings are not made to be passive watchers this has been studied in depth in the past. Given the responsibilities of your job you would think you would have more knowledge on this. That is if safety was a concern of yours.

How many system failures have gridlocked major portions of the country, what would happen if instead of just being route and flight information these systems were responsible for the safety of those flying.

The 3/4 budget thing is a load of crap, and you know it. Especially when compared to the billions of dollars non delivering "next-gen" "solution", new name old thing. ie. Contractors get ungodly amounts of money to design systems to replace controllers only to find out they underbid and can't seem to get it right and after billions of waste the interest and budget for it dies.

Which contractor/private sector job are you pitching for?!

Congress should investigate FAA management getting lucrative private sector jobs after compromising safety and integrity for said job. ie Marion Blakely former FAA administrator now Chief Executive Officer AIA, Russ Chew former FAA-Chief Operating Officer hired as JetBlue's Chief Operating Officer.

Another government screw up. So what else is new?

The FTC was asleep while mega corporations were formed at the expense of consumers.

The SEC was asleep while Enron, Worldcom, Adelphia, Tyco, LehmanBros, MerrillLynch, BearStearn, Madoff, Stanford, etc, were looting investors.

The FDIC was asleep while the Banksters looted the bank deposits insured by taxpayers.

The FCC was asleep while the incumbent telecom rip off consumers with rediculously high fees.

The regulators in charge of inspecting the oil drilling rigs were asleep when the rig exploded.

This is the result of Big Government's promise of protecting the public interest.

A real WAKE UP call. A lot of other airports have gotten the message too.

There was a person on the job who was responsible to take calls and land the plane. That person was asleep instead of working. Fire him and move on. Are we to staff two people in every federal job in case one of them falls asleep? If so, they will just take turns sleeping! Sorry, but the fault here lies with the controller completely. If traffic so light that one person can do it and still not have enough activity to fully engage them, then one person is plenty. Having two there would be the standard union answer.

I find it ironic that this happened at an airport named after the president who fired all of the PATCO controllers back in the 80s. It is also very disturbing that there was a controller on duty who was so tired that he fell asleep on the job. Even awake, a sleep deprived person's judgement can be faulty. To have someone who is sleep deprived making decisions that effect many other peoples' lives is very worrisome.

In any case, for safety reasons, these flights should have been diverted to another of the area's airports. Sending these flights to Dulles and busing the passengers to Reagan would have been a much safer alternative then allowing them to land at an airport when they had no contact with the tower. A runway incursion by another plane taking off or a piece of ground equipment could have changed this seeming non-event into a major tragedy. There should be a major review of procedures to ensure that there is an established method for handling these situations in the future instead of leaving it to an ad hoc decision by the people that happen to be on duty in the regional center and the plane's pilots.

There was a person on the job who was responsible to take calls and land the plane. That person was asleep instead of working. Fire him and move on.

Thanks for the generalized input from someone that's never done the job. Controllers work rotating shifts. For the most part their 1st shift is a 4-midnight. They then come back the next afternoon from 1-9pm. Then come back the next morning from 7am-3pm. Then come back the next morning from 6am-2pm, then they have 8 hours 15 minuts off and come back that night at 10:15pm and work until 6:15am.

Try doing it sometime, it ain't easy. That last shift you work 7 hours and 45 mins straight without a break. NONE!! You start that shift after only an 8hr and 15 minute gap between shifts. That 8hr 15min gap includes driving home, winding down, trying to sleep during the day when the sun is up and you aren't tired, eating dinner, getting up when you are tired, showering and driving back to work, and working nearly 8 hrs without a break. It's damn hard to do. Especially since the FAA took away the right to even have an FM radio to listen to to keep you awake. Should the guy have fallen asleep? Hell no. Can you see how it could happen? Hell yes.

I'm for a minimum of 2 people on duty in any facility at any time. I'm not talking about just in government facilities either.

Who calls 911 if someone has a heart attack or an accident?

I would think that the pilots would have been concerned about a possible terrorist takeover or other adverse situation at the airport, and asked for a diversion to another airport. After all, this isn't Podunk County Airstrip, it's Reagan International, spitting distance from the center of Washington, DC.

Let's put a check box on our tax forms and those who want to pay for two government workers in every job can pay a lot more taxes. There are procedures for what to do if the tower can't be reached and they were followed. The planes landed without incident.

@Bruce-308647 - how did you get from two ATCs in airport towers to two people in every government job?

Here's another safety issue at DCA: The main runway is in terrible condition. The take-off roll down a runway at National is like taking off on a country road!!There's only one big runway and its seems like they can't figure out how to rebuild it. This has to be a safety issue.

The same way most people do - by having a fault somewhere in the circuits that govern common sense.

When you're talking about a situation where failure by a lone operator can result in deaths of hundreds of people, then redundancy should be looked at. Air traffic control happens to be one of those situations.

It happened with Comair Flight 191 - the lone air traffic controller was distracted with administrative duties, and as a result didn't notice the plane lining up on the wrong runway. 49 people died when the plane crashed.

What irony... Reagan National Airport, of all places.

stc1993, you are absolutely right. Ans it's no even "What if", that actually happened a few weeks ago on an Air France flight, a 777 from Paris to the US. The pilot died, apparently of a heart attack, and the copilot had to land the plane in Iceland. Thank God, no airline (except for Ryanair and its crazy CEO) is stupid enough to consider a one man or one woman flight crew. Some jobs are just too critical to be left to just one person, no matter the cost. That said, 2 is safer than 1 only only if both are conscientious and don't lay back, each one relying on the other (which includes using their off time to get enough rest so that they can perform like they are expected). Otherwise, we could just as well have 2 ATC asleep on the job.

While I'm bummed that the person fell asleep, I DO NOT BLAME HIM AND DO NOT THINK HE SHOULD BE SUSPENDED.

Just the other day 60 Minutes (or a similar news program) did a special about how poor airline personnel are (some PILOTS are paid $16,000/year) and they can not afford to rent a hotel room to sleep so they sleep in a million places.

The other issue are their working hours.

I think that we Americans are going to have to cough up more money for airfare or the federal government needs to kick in some subsidies.

I do not totally blame the controller. I definitely don't think he fell asleep on purpose?

Remember Scully ? The pilot that landed safely in the HUDSON RIVER? Scully is either retired or close to it and wants pilots and other personnel to be paid more and to sleep more.

I find it ironic that this happened at an airport named after the president who fired all of the PATCO controllers back in the 80s. It is also very disturbing that there was a controller on duty who was so tired that he fell asleep on the job. Even awake, a sleep deprived person's judgement can be faulty. To have someone who is sleep deprived making decisions that effect many other peoples' lives is very worrisome.

I completely agree and we need better working and sleeping conditions for our airline/airport personnel.

The person should have been fired & never should there be allowed just one person in the tower on duty in case of some unforeseen medical issue, etc. that might arise.

FAA suspends air traffic controller caught sleeping

Why?

There is no excuse for getting caught sleeping on the job. That's why you need two people there all the time.

We have drones and missiles that are programmed to hit a target 2000 miles away and unmanned probes scurrying about Jupiter and MARs. If we can develop software for That, then why not for landing aircraft without the type of Ground systems we have now? Another thing: The fact that these 2 pilots safely landed 2 different planes at the same airport is telling. Maybe the onboard technology and communications is far better than we know.

It seems there are a LOT of comments on this that have jumped the gun. Randy Babbitt claims that as an airline pilot he is personaly offended. Is he not the top of the tree in aviation safety? How come at such an important airport there was one ATC on duty? Who is responsible for the duty doster? There are a lot of questions to be answered, but I doubt the public will ever be privvy to the answers.

What happens if that one air traffic controller has a heart attack? Or needs a bathroom break?

I'm tired of hearing from "experts" who downplay the risks, only to find out they're "industry-funded".

ula_ashore

What irony... Reagan National Airport, of all places.

It's irony to the n'th degree. Go figure. Personally, I think it's plot. The planes landed safely, no one got hurt. But there's a point here. Ronald Reagan, you dead bastard crappy actor and worse President, hell wouldn't be so bad for you.

I also find it ironic that this happened at Reagan National Airport. And so appropriate. As for the ATC, reprimand, but not fired. We are obviously already short of ATCs, which is part of why this situation occurred.

For all those Union fools out there trying to blame Reagan, he had to staff with sub's to avoid an INTERNATIONAL Airport shutdown by the Controllers association/union when he hired the rreplacements.

This controller was probably a Union Controller, 20 years controlling and 17 at Reagan, no Newbie. One person awake alone at night is tough no matter how long you've been doing it. Ever wonder why there are fewer Big Trucks on the road between about 3:30 AM and 5:30 AM? Its because, no matter how long you've been out there on the big road, no matter when you wake up, when the "witching hour" as we called comes around every Morning, it is nearly impossible to stay awake and alert. I did it for 15 Years, and no matter what, starting at 3:30 every morn, the Z-monster arrived. even if we only took a half hour steering wheel nap.

Again, as far as the Reagan staffing, remember you lefties had 8 full years with Uncle Bill and three with Obama to change all that. Man, you all could have put 4 controllers in each Tower, no matter the Traffic, to satisfy the Union's, but no, you'd rather avoid that so later in life you might find another reason to TRY to bash the Right.

11 total years, and yet you still blame the right. Ya'all are so sad about accountability and responsibility, but like the kids you are, led around by the playground bully, you have to blame someone else for your shortcomings and bad decisions. How's Obama's war going for ya? Has he come back to our Country since putting our Soldiers/Sailors in harms way?

I'm liking this Mike Pangia chap for sticking up for the guy. ATC personnel are worked to death, and after four consecutive all nighters subject to boredom I can understand why he dozed off. I've been there myself, in the middle of the day with people around me. His superiors should be called on the as well, as problems start from the top. I'm sure the muckitymucks will cover their collective ass' by allowing the guy to fall on his sword. I'll bet his superiors will be holding it for him.

For all those Union fools out there trying to blame Reagan, he had to staff with sub's to avoid an INTERNATIONAL Airport shutdown by the Controllers association/union when he hired the rreplacements.

Well, if he still was alive and the shoe fit...........................

Ray, you are stupid. Basic math seems beyond you. Obama has been Pres. two years, not three. That means in the last 30 years, Dems have held the presidency 10 years.

Next, this person was a SUPERVISOR, not a controller. He CANNOT BELONG TO THE UNION! Screw the anti-union rhetoric, this is not a labor issue.

Finally, table of penalties for the ATO regarding sleeping on a position of responsibility (first offense) ranges from 14 day suspension to removal. In the normal course of business in the real world, that would be a max of 5 day suspension for a supervisor with a near automatic promotion to Manager. However, with the notoriety of this event, I would expect a 14 day suspension.

Pretend to get informed before trolling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_ITIlPvcm0

I saw that video last year, what a laugh riot!

Heaven forbid, should you and I even come close to agreeing on something Virgil. How could that possibly happen?

This incident doesn't surprise me at all. It's why I don't fly. The industry has been staffing to budget not just in the towers....but right up to the guys flying the planes. Get used to it folks. This is where we've been heading for a long time. It's just now it's starting to become obvious. It won't be long and we'll be seeing the towers dark, and guys in sombreros will be on the tarmac, waving different colored bandanas and talking the planes in with walkie-talkies. I mean if you think about, this scenario isn't much of a stretch from a one and only controller working the tower, and he's sound asleep. It's like a bad episode from "Wings!"

Stand up - It's all a matter of finding common ground. If you have noticed, you and I really haven't gone at it like others you encounter. I have Liberal friends, and the last thing we discuss is politics and religion. You and I are no different than most of the folks on the vine, save for a select group of rabid fanatics, of which I never considered you part of. We may have political differences, but it doesn't mean we don't appreciate the same things.

Look, I know we'll never take sunset walks on the beach pulling the petals off of Daffodils, but in the future I'll make a better attempt at civil communication with you. I do have a few Liberals on my friends list though, one of which started out with a post directed at me that didn't quite foster amity.

Reagan fired all the ATC to show how tough he was and not because they did not have valid reasons to strike.

Wall Street tanks the economy and then get bailed out with tax payors monies then turns around and decide to give mega bonuses to the same people who tanked the economy.......LOL

When this produces an outcry at the excessive compensation of the same financial folks, they state that they have to fulfil the contracts that these economy tanking employees have with their firms as they cannot be broken...... unlike the contracts with the unions and their members that can be discarded on a whim. Hmmm

There was even mention that if these economy tanking employees were not compensated that this could cause a 'brain' drain. LOL

Oddly enough it seems that Reagan and his cohorts did not see the ATC employees in the same light .... that firing all these employees would cause a brain drain that was dangerous to the safety and security of the flying public and worse, cause a long term shortage that this area have never recovered from even up to now.

Well at least that lone supervisor that was manning that tower all by himself will now be able to get some rest..... for a change. Hope they are not quick to discharge him from his job as who will be there to replace him.....in the long term? After all if they had all that many extra ATC employees in the first place, they would not have left him to man that tower all by himself imo.

Alright Virg, I think you're right. No, I know you're right. Spirited dispute is outstanding and will lead to the rebirth of a great nation. Peace on, my adversarial friend.

I am outraged that Babbit (head of the FAA) is screaming at a controller for a problem the FAA created. One controller on duty is ridiculous. Babbit is just covering his third point of contact, poorly.....

Stand up - Likewise, see you around the vine pard.

You like food? Check out Brite's Food, Glorious Food seed. Be forewarned though, it'll make you hungry

Where can I find it?

http://brite.newsvine.com/_news/2011/03/22/6322222-food-glorious-food?last=1301100015&threadId=3085169&sp=0&pc=25&commentId=52804292

Don't come cryin' to me if you get hungry though. Hey buddy, enjoy.

Thanks, and it is supper time!

I've got a question, and someone else on the vine brought this up. I voted up # 1.55, & 1.57. Now it reads zero, how can that be? I've seen this on another seed. Anyone have an answer?

Never mind, now it's back to one. WTF, over.

Ronnie got his way and illegally fired air controllers striking for better work conditions. What they were asking for, affected not just traffic controllers but everyone who flies!

Our government can spend millions of tax dollars on people to scan and/or pat down grandma and jr., but can't afford more than one air traffic controller per shift?

blondeness - Your last sentence was right on target. Your first sentence, consider this. What if every Doctor and Nurse in this country decided to go on strike. Of course they wouldn't do that, their oath wouldn't allow them to do that. The message Reagan had, was that no labor force had the right to cripple a country and possibly the world , and that's exactly what the ATC union was doing. The duty to their task should have superseded their demands. They got to big for their britches, Reagan gave them a way out, and the rest is moot history.

Supervisor of all people. With jobs in the private sector, if I were to doze off 2 hours after arriving on a shift, I would have at the very least got reprimanded with a verbal warning, if not fired. Here, the regional operator now needs to notify a sleeping guy that a plane is comming in as an answer. So, if the guy is catching his zzzz's, should they just start yelling really, really loud? or insult the guy's mother over the radio to see if they're awake.

But outside DC, I could well see Congress wanting to have some hearings on this might grow a little disgruntled :p

I don't see how the notifying thing is going to work either. The controller already is 'notified' 30 minutes ahead of an arrival by a flight strip, unless it's a VFR (which the airlines don't fly as). This guy apparently slept through both aircraft calling on frequency, (you can set the speaker volume pretty high) the approach controller calling, (which also comes out the speaker) and also through the tower phone ringing. He must have been a really deep sleeper to sleep through all of them. It's kind of a typical FAA knee jerk reaction though. One problem happens once (due to controller error) and they make a rule for everyone to follow.

Virgil Starkwell Air traffic controllers are not Drs or nurses. They do not perform the same services at all. The reason they were fired was because they made things inconvenient for the top 1%, who are, in reality, in charge!

I don't know where you will find a government "by the people and for the people" in this day and age, but it is certainly not here in America. Sure, we hold elections and go through the motions; but the top 1% of people with money are pulling all the strings on our elected officials.

There will soon be no unions and collective bargaining will be illegal. We will then go back to the days of the poor working, with the majority of Americans earning what is now considered a "poverty level" income and workers rights will be non existent.

UNEMPLOYMENT seems to keep most people awake nights.

and this Air Traffic Controller will find that it can cure his sleepyness, too!

as well it should.

Very well pt you might get the supervisor to stay awake but some one would have to show him how to work

J.J. --- are you kidding?!?!? Overworked??? What news article did you read? The guy was not overworked - the airport was quiet. He was just lazy and UNDER-worked and he dozed-off. He should be fired immediately.

How do you know he was lazy? He was working the midnight shift, who knows if it was even his regularly scheduled one. No info, but draw those conclusions.

Retired ATc 35 years service. Normally a sup does not work a mid shift by themselves. Something must have happened for him to work the mid. Sometimes you only get 8 hours between shifts and thats not enough time to get enough sleep. Budget cuts too. Should have been a two person mid!

I can't see how anyone can put the blame on that supervisor, who more than likely had to cover a shift no one else would take and he couldn't have had enough rest himself... that is a stressful enough job without the added pressure of lack of sleep. Anyone saying that there are plenty of unemployed well, no wonder you can't sleep you get plenty.

Shortage of Air Traffic Controllers = Reagan.

Untrained Air Traffic Controllers = Reagan.

Scab Air Traffic Controllers = Reagan.
What is the common element here?
Willl this ever go away?

Union jobs are wonderful. When I worked for GE it was common to see the union "employees" sleeping on the job, playing stick ball while millions of $ in machines and parts were running without attendants.

I will never forget the sign on one of their tool boxes which was and is still so true - "If you don't believe in life after death, then you have been here at the end of the shift."

It was a NON-UNION member of management who fell asleep. Don't blame unions for this. BTW FAA supervisors are paid substantially more then controllers and the FAA is pushing to have a 4 to 1 ratio of management to make sure controllers, who don't get to nap, are doing their job.....

Try this experiment at home work 6am to 2pm drive home go to sleep wake up and be to work in time for a 11pm to 7am shift THE SAME DAY. Go to work in a dark lit room where any stimulating distractions such as a radio are absolutely forbidden. Sit there and listen to the lulling hum of a roomful of equipment for 8 straight hours during which you may or may not talk to any aircraft at all and most certainly will not get a break.

Keep in mind calling in for either shift can result in retaliations and discipline by management becuase the FAA does not believe fatigue is an excuse to miss work and might AWOL you for doing so. For extra fun be an involuntary single parent of a toddler, something an FAA 'supervisor' would suggest you find a different career to accomplish. Follow this schedule with several more midnight shifts.

There have been many studies on fatigue which everyone in the field seems to ignore.

Most people would find the urge to pluck their own eyeballs out about halfway through the night.

No wonder controllers have a shorter life expectancy.

I thought the Acting President took care of all this Air Traffic Control stuff.

For everyone that is jumpingon the ATC before what really happened is know, you have to remember, he may have been covering for someone and already had put in his full day, he may have been coming down with something, goodness knows almost everyone I know is sick right now, or just as someone else mentioned, who hasn't gotten drowsey on the job, nodded off during a powerpoint or staff meeting?

I don't know why any airport that needs controllers would consider not having 2 on duty at all times. People get sick, people get sleepy, people need to use the bathroom, sometimes people have heart attacks... if lives depend on there being someone on duty you probably should have 2 to cover.

MD-1987898 said it all. For those of you that work a 9-5 job every day, try working a controllers schedule once. You might have a little more respect for the guy that's keeping you safe when you're flying.

If there was so little traffic that it was easy for the ATC to fall asleep, then the argument that there was one person trying to do the work of two makes no sense.

Ever try to stay awake all night without a break Bruce?

Bruce,

Do you work back to back shifts??????? This person was not a union member so stop blaming the union for this. Try the suggested work schedule listed above and see how that works out for you. Just let me know if you live in the MD area so I can make sure I am not on the street when you try to drive home after two 8 hour shifts in one day.

Unless you are a truck driver, nurse, doctor or ATC you cannot even begin to know what those folks go through to get your products in the stores on time, or help those who need medical care no matter what the time of day is or even landing airplanes and directing those planes which are taking off at all times of the night. Remember this is Regan National where ALOT of the Government (Congress, Senators, etc...) fly their private jets into.

The real concern needs to be that now we have told the whole world that our ATC Towers are not properly manned and could easily be overtaken by someone who wishes to do this country harm.

Yeah, I have tried to stay awake all night without a break. And if it's my job to do it, then I HAVE to stay awake. You know in the military you can be imprisoned or executed for falling asleep on watch duty?

I just think everyone here is cutting the ATC way too much slack. The bottom line is, when people's lives depending on you staying awake, it is YOUR responsibility to make sure you have enough rest to stay awake.

Just because we find fault with the ATC procedure does not mean we are absolving the controller of blame. It means that there are other factors that should be looked at to make sure it doesn't happen again.

THIS time the controller got lucky - the planes got down, and no one got hurt. What happens the NEXT time?

What ever caused this supervisor to fall asleep on his watch does not excuse the fact he endangered the lives of hundreds of passengers. As someone that works all shifts and sometimes 24 plus straight shifts I know it isn't that difficult to stay awake if there is the drive to do so. Stand up and pace around for a bit. What I haven't heard anything about is the schedule on inbound flights. I would think that he knew there were inbound flights due to arrive. Where was his head at??? If this turns out to be gross neglect then he should be fired and dipped in $#!T!! If he was triple shifted with a sick kid in the hospital and whatever else sob story could possibly contribute to his sleeping, maby just bust him back to janitor.

No one is saying anything of the sort. The fact that we are pointing out deficiencies in the way ATC is staffed and managed at a major international airport in the nation's capital is not trying to mitigate the controller's responsibility for falling asleep.

*Foreigner*

J.J. --- are you kidding?!?!? Overworked??? What news article did you read? The guy was not overworked - the airport was quiet. He was just lazy and UNDER-worked and he dozed-off. He should be fired immediately.

Um? Well Well....who has egg on his face now?

I won't expect an apology *Foreigner* I doubt if you are man enough to admit that I knew what I was talking about.

Air traffic controllers work 8 hour days? They better not. That is ridiculous. You are useless between hours 6 thru 8 at any job. In this job you become dangerous. This is why we need a third party intervening between management and the worker. To keep things safe. This includes managers if they fill in for air traffic controllers. 4-6 hour shifts is it. Especially in busy airports. Maybe in Billings, Montana you can have a longer shift but not at normal airports.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ! ZZZZZZZZZZZ! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

Jorge-hey, could we really expect a more illustrious comment from you?

Hey Bruce...Everything is fine until it's the plane YOU'RE flying in that takes a dive onto the runway! It ain't a 7/11 convenience store we're talking about here. (Although I even think there should always be at least 2 people working the graveyard shifts at convenience stores too.)

Bob Randall-1218482

Union jobs are wonderful. When I worked for GE it was common to see the union "employees" sleeping on the job, playing stick ball while millions of $ in machines and parts were running without attendants.

And what was your job, Bob?

On a daily basis, I see similar stuff going on, but, anongst represented and non- represented workers every day. Thing is, those non-represented rank and file are enjoying the benefits that others fought for them for. You know what? Most of those non-represented, hard working men and women, on the front lines, know exactly where their rights as workers came from, and, as an American worker, I think the majority will be behind their brothers and sisters from organized labor..

Selfish government employee sleeping on the job???

Seems reasonable in the Obama administration.

And no one in the public world has never done the same thing? What? I guess you've been sleeping a lot not to notice it.

Foreigner, #2.3, Your message make me wonder if you have ever worked in a high pressure area/ profession.....

Do you know how stressful it is to work especially in the area of air traffic control in this day and age?

Even if it is quiet it does not mean that something cannot happen at a moment's notice like diversion of an airplane to the air space you cover. It is unconscionable and stupid that this worker was left to man this tower alone, whatever the hour or time of day imo.

Unfortunately it appears that the FAA folks are either bowing to the conservative/ teabagger/republican nonsense, regarding public employees /workers and their value to our society, or are/may be used to being in an office from 9am -5 pm without having to work in the field ie. in a tower or if they did, have forgotten what that was like.

There is a lot of built in stress in these jobs..... not everybody can do what these ATC can do or there would not be a shortage of them. This isn't like pushing around papers on a desk, dictating a letter or answering a phone.

For the ATC, talking to someone on the other end of the phone is usually to a pilot, and those blobs and squiggles on the computer screens etc are not a screensaver either.

it is YOUR responsibility to make sure you have enough rest to stay awake. And if it's my job to do it, then I HAVE to stay awake.

Responsibility? Yeah right, force yourself to sleep right now Bruce, RIGHT NOW!!

Work a 6am-2pm shift. Then drive home, try and sleep, and then go back to work at 10pm. Then sit around in the dark for hours doing absolutely nothing, and don't fall asleep. Do it once a week for years, and never fall asleep once, ever. See how long your 'Have to do it' attitude gets you fighting your circadian sleep cycle. Then we'll talk.

What an a-maize-zing story.

i thought it was pretty corny!

I'm all ears.

next thing you know, he could be stalking you.

but maybe he will turn over a new leaf before that happens.

Yeah, humor!!!

Sweet......

One thing about this message board one is never bored...

Such wit ....made my day.....still LOLing

Pilots are capable however when entering the airport traffic area, they will not be aware of any ground traffic (vehicles) moving about, crossing runways, fod (foreign object damage) and many other numerous incidents. That is the job of the air traffic controller. In a major airport if ground vehicles do not hear a clearance to land they will cross runways, etc and the chance of accidents are greatly increased. And as far as it being only one person and a supervisor at that, well he is qualified in all tower positions and quite capable of handling more than you know. Speaking from experience as a former military air traffic controller civilian controllers get flight strips announcing who is next in the pattern, there is very little change with an occasional blip. The FAA has very strict guidelines and regulations on hours worked, time off, breaks and so much more. If he was sleeping he needs to go, lucky this time, but do you want to risk him a second time falling asleep.

Well richard .. how smug. He is a supervisor himself. probably had to cover the shift because someone who was suppose to work couldn't. So he didn't have enough rest is my guess. At least get the whole story before firing someone. I really don't think that they put irresponsible people in supervisory positions.

The guy freakin fell asleep at his desk during light work after midnight. Like that hasnt happened to everyone here at some point in their lives. Yeah, the consequences could have been disastrous. I dont blame him...i blame the morons that made the decision to have only one ATC operator on duty

joy if you read my post I said if he was sleeping he has to go. Smug no Arrogant or confident yes and if you are going to be an air traffic controller you have to be. You are responsible for many lives both in the air and on the ground. Every controller I have met that is successful has that trait. As far as one person in the tower, he is the supervisor, maybe he decided to go to minimum crew and let everyone else who was there go home because it was a slow night. If he was working a second shift because of illness then he most likely violated FAA regulations for consecutive hours worked in a day. He is a supervisor, he should know better.

shi25 the moron to blame would be the guy you don't blame, the supervisor he made the decision, and he is the person in charge.

What more does anyone need to know? He was asleep at the controls!!! Do YOU want to be on the plane that has to land unassisted because the controller is asleep?? When peoples lives are dependent upon you performing your job properly, you can't nap at your desk. EVER!! Firing him was the appropriate action. I'm sorry he lost his job, but it was his own fault. Had he stayed awake, he would be employed today.

Actually, leftleaning, you obviously are excusing ol' sleepy.

No good. Lisa. If you had read a previous article you would have learned that the danger is not from other planes in the air but from equipment on the ground. Having said that I do sympathise with the ATC. People falling asleep at work is nothing new. Suppose the guy has to use the bathroom and what happens when he has his mealtime break. There should always be 2 ATC's on duty at major airports. Government trying to save money is really to blame. Government frequently does not think logically.

Landed at many airports without ATC assistence. As you're only experience is FS, don't comment.

Forgive my aviation ignorance, but what's FS?

Flight Simulator

Could be Flight Service as well.

Said with no malice. FSS (Flight Service Station)

safer ones means to hire more people, seems like that is not the intent of alot of places these days. Safety is not so much a concern when the bottom line is in the red. This is what America is coming to. longer hours, less pay, and more danger.

This whole situation is too common. If one person can scramble and do the work of two people; pretty soon a bean-counter determines that it is a waste of money to have two people. (remember 'right-sizing?') Works great, until something goes wrong, then the very people who had the bright idea to right-size in the first place demand to know WHAT WENT WRONG.

Yes, obviously the guy shouldn't have fallen asleep, but from what I've read of these posts from people who actually know the work environment, the (rotating) schedule, it wasn't a matter of if, but when someone would have fallen asleep. Ranting on that 'well, he SHOULD be more responsible' isn't going to fix the underlying problem of ATC fatigue.

$150,000 a year is underpaid?

only in America!

You think MSNBC is news?

they didn't give him a name...in a tower by himself ..ray pun cell...

Because the politicians just spent this year's budget on all those cruise missiles they just launched. The defense contractors were promised more work by the Tea Party.

Scalzo - In the running for dumbest comment. Tea Party? Can blaming Ronald Reagan be far behind?

According to MR Progressive BRain aka Scalzo...... It must be Bush's fault......lol

Hey pug, let's face it; the controllers never came back after Reagan fired them, so Reagan must be at fault! ;-)

You're slipping. The current mantra is to blame Bush.

Are you at work right now?

The current mantra is to blame Bush.

Why not?

Supervisors can’t belong to a union...

Retired ATC

They don't need to ATSAP is across the board. File your ATSAP report and head back to work.

They don't, are you so senile you forgot the Reagan Years? The geezzer busted that union after his afternoon nap and diaper change.

50 states formed a union called the united states..some like it,,,,haters hate it...go union go...buy american....

Devils son Reagan gave them a warning and they failed to heed that warning, instead they opted to endanger air travellers and they got what they deserved. You want to strike that's fine just don't do it at everyone elses expense because you won't get any sympathy from me. I am tired of all this we deserve, the last strike where I am was a grocery chain, albertson's etc. When I went to get something from the store I was approached by the strikers telling me not to use this store because the union was striking this store. I told them too bad and they got very belligerent long story short I bought from the store and came back the next day with 20 others which infuriated the union people.

I agree Richard, Reagan stood up to the union. Here in California Jerry Brown not only let gov workers unionize but gave them collective bargaining rights. Then moron legislature didn't fund pensions during boom years so on top of state having a $28million deficit we have millions in unfunded pension liability. But its okay cuz we geniuses just voted Brown back in to fix it!!!

whowhat............., it's $28 billion deficit, thanks to nymphomaniacal-deficit-spending liberals.

gravely mistaken

Several points.

1. They were only cleared for the approach. They did not receive their clearance to land. Big difference.
2. Reagan DOES have a control tower. Just because the sup was asleep doesn’t mean the tower is closed.
3. Wrong they can only fly to the last clearance point received. Which was cleared for approach. Not to blame them, but what they should have done was execute a missed approach and called the TRACON back.

LakeRay

Time to re-read the FAR's, Comanchedriver. You are wrong on every single point you made.
Cleared for the Approach DOES NOT authorize a clearance to land. How do you not know this?

Lakeray you are right on!

Oh by the way , I am a controller with 25 years experience! We are human and we make mistakes as all humans do. Not one person here can say they have never made an error. So to all the people who are commenting and have no idea what the job is about, please educate yourselves before slamming anyone. There were a lot of mistakes made not only by the controller, but the pilots as well. They did land without a tower clearance. I am sure the appropriate action will be taken to all involved.

I'm a former military pilot, and I've landed in many uncontrolled airports, but I would never dream of landing at a big hub like Reagan, even if it didn't seem busy, without clearance from the tower. The controller is clearly at fault for having fallen asleep at the switch, but the two pilots share that responsibility, and they alone are ultimately responsibile for the people on board their aircraft. Without clearance from the tower, they should have made a missed approach and requested an alternate airport. There's no way they could have known what was the situation on the ground. It was an unnecessary risk on their part.

Thanks...Good discussion, I was wondering if the pilots had made the correct decision in landing without clearance from the tower... It sounds as though a few mistakes were made...

All this money the govt puts into security at the airport, all those expensive scanning machines, all those pat downs and feel ups only to be thwarted by a 1-man crew at the nation's capital. Hey, everybody, best time to terrorize is on the night shift when the govt is saving money.

I detest being put through all that security checking when the FAA can't even man its own control towers. But maybe we have union buster Ronald Reagan to thank for that.

You get what you pay for...or what you don't pay for.

Thanks for all of the Air Traffic Controllers speaking up and trying to explain a few things for most of these people who don't have a clue....

Controller's work schedules are the screwiest I've ever seen!!! For instance, today I worked 2 pm - 10 pm. I have to be back to work in the morning (8 hrs between shifts! minus driving time to & from, Sh*t, shower, shave time) for my 6 am - 2 pm shift. Then I get 8 hours off again (minus driving time x 2, eating dinner, Sh*t, shower) and have to be back in for my midnight shift tomorrow night 10 pm - 6 am. So figure it up... I will have worked 24 hours out of 40 and if I'm lucky will get 10 -11 hours of sleep during that 40 hour period. You have no life during your work week. You can't go home and just fall asleep either, especially after working a busy day. For all of you non ATC, we don't have a choice in our schedules, these are assigned shifts. Somebody has to do it. If I call in sick, my co-workers get the short end or they have to call in overtime. The shift work is as stressful as the job. There have been studies that normal shift work takes years off of your life, try worked screwy shift work every week. 2 eves, 2 days & a mid!!!

Now for staffing... Most facilities are about to be critically short staffed as well (if they're not already!!) All of the controllers that were hired to replace the fired strikers in 1981.... are now all retiring. Dah! They government has known this was coming for years but are hiring at too slow of a pace to replace these retiring controllers. It takes an average of 2 -3 years to get someone trained at a facility (that does not include the hiring process of 1-3 years). If every controller that is eligible to retire were to retire within the next 1-2 years... it would cripple the air traffic system.

Again supervisors can’t belong to a union...

LakeRay

Lakeray;

Give up dude. Some people do not read other posts in there entirety and assume too much. Hence my comment up above to spider. You can talk til your blue in the face that supervisors are not in the union, but most won't read it.

And what will you say if it turns out NOT to be a supervisor? Perhaps the FAA is waiting for all the information before they respond, unlike a great many here.

WAFDOF:

I already knew what the article mentioned, but went and read it again. In the 1st paragraph the article clearly mentions that it was a SUPERVISOR.

It turns out most of the people already had the information that you so rudely mentioned they didn't.

Heck even the title wasn't hard to miss!

It sounds like they were working under the Government Rule of reward, by raising the individual to their level of inefficiency.

Actually Erica, it isn't "the Government Rule of reward", it's called the Peter Principle (a 70's book of the same title)--a person rises within an organization to the level of their incompetence. It is no different in any other large entity.

Mickey- are you saying that anyone in the private sector is non-skilled? That's a pretty foolish notion. You might want to rethink that. I'm sure there are plenty of unskilled union workers as well.

Talk about ironic! This happened at the very airport which is named after the same person that fired all the union air traffic controllers back in 1981, obviously during one of his Alzheimer blackouts

That made me laugh.

I agree Jim,

I made mention of that at the top of the blog.

We need some cheese over here!!!!!

hey chucky the man want's mo'cheese...

WAFDOF and plain bob must not have jobs, or at least jobs that require much out of them. fatigue is caused by either not enough sleep or stressful situations. And if you have not done that mans job you have no idea what his workday is like.

Jim and JJ The FAA has strict guidelines/regulations on hours worked per day, per week before mandatory time off. They are not overworked if they abide by the guidelines. No controller is going to work until they are fatigued because if there is an accident it will be their fault they know the regulations. As a military controller/tower supervisor and base operations chief, I have had to close fields due to regulations. As you can guess most senior officers did not like it but I stood my ground. as I said I am not going to jail for anyone. Reagan again gave them a warning, they failed to heed hence there departure. There is no shortage of controllers by the way.

Joy once again if they were stressed from 7-10 flights a shift they need to find another job. Most military and civilian controllers undergo more stress a dayfrom the volume of traffic and more. There is a movie called pushing tin see it and you will understand the radar side of it.

Ron inexperienced alcoholics fine thing to say about the United States Military. Reagan supplemented the towers with military controllers. I was stationed at MCAS El Toro and had orders for LAX unfortunetly I also had orders to OKinawa and Okinawa superseded LAX. So yes I know what I am talking about.

What an utterly STUPID comment

What do you expect from some union idiot that has to pay someone to keep thier job. If I remember right alcoholism in union workers is very high. That and drug use!!

Most all replacement controllers from the Regan era have already retired due to mandatory retirement age or are reaching it now. Very small percentage remain. Cruise, decent and landing without a clearance from ATC ( "lost com") is practiced by all instrument rated pilots annually (all commercial flights are IFR (instrument flight rules) and not a big deal. If the pilot is concerned about runway conditions, a low pass after intentions announced on tower/unicom frequency would be appropriate (certainly excitment in the cabin). No different if the radios failed...it does happen... and they had the Potomac TRACON watching via radar in the most highly controlled/restricted airspace in the US; wouldn't want anything to happen to the ruling elite. They are "special".

Unicom and an old ADF! I've used them both since my early days nearly thirty years ago.

It was fortunate these folks had someone to help them arrive safely. It begs the question though: Would they have known enough to have utilized old-school tools like we're accustomed to? The only difference is the size of the planes landing and taking off.

And the controller had better be able to explain their lack of consciousness.

ADF!! Now you make ME feel old. Remember tuning in the radio stations and listing to music also?

and T.V.s without remotes, dial phones, records,

KABY (albany south west georgia regional airport) tower is operational 08:00 - 20:00 local. fedex - ups planes land and take off every single morning 05:00 - 07:00 with out tower.

i can see the concern here but at the same time if either pilot every landed at a AP that wasnt staffed 24/7 surely theyd know how to use "pilot controlled lighting" and use local coms to check with other pilots.

yeah i know im no pilot (cant even use a sim, legally blind) but i do listen to air band..

so while i think its a problem that should be looked in to especially if their was any equipment on a runway. but at the same token, with budget cuts and high turn over for ATC's its not surprising to me at all.

When all the ATC functions fail, when the whistles and buzzers and fancy electronic stuff lets you down, pilots just go right back to the basics: fly the plane, see and be seen. Communicate/listen if you have the ability.

I wouldn't want to do that at LAX around 6:00 PM, but I could if I had to. I have landed off airport, on roads, in farmer's fields, at large airports when my radios and TPX failed. I even landed on a taxiway one time because of some yay-hoos racing a pickup on the runway. It happens. You can still do ok in spite of those things.

Oh yeah, I landed at the completely wrong airport once, and was miserably shamed by that mistake. But I still landed just fine, and I learned something.

As yet, I haven't bent anything, never had a complete engine failure (partial loss of power doesn't count does it?), and have never run a plane out of gas.
So I suppose I still have those things to look forward to.

ATC not operating for a few minutes? Big deal.

Word on that, man. A landing is a landing. I'd be glad you did it where-ever if I was your passenger.

Flylowguy; You must be aware of the chemtrails disbursed in the sky, huh? I did not say contrails being as I know the difference please. Why are these people spewing chemtrails on us poor folk down here? You may want to view "What In The World Are They Spraying" on dvd as more people are becoming familiar with this issue and help land some facts. Help shed light on these evil flying creatures and enlighten us with truth. The truth will set us free the word says. Standard Operating Procedure to land when a pilot does not have clearance from the tower is o.k.? Wow, I would think that would only be used in an emergency. It's not every day we hear from someone flying in the sky on these boards so I would like your comment on these lines in the sky if it's not to much to ask being as FAA is asleep also on this topic.

Dom's, please, let's not get on to the chemtrails. It'll be sure to bring out a whole bunch of experts who claim to have a bundle of initials after their names. BS, MS, MA, PHD, PVC, CIA, MIA, HDPE, CCF, FFC, CWA, CCA, you name it. My favorite? BS. He he he.

Your comment is proof positive -- coming from an expert, no less -- that we simply don't need those expensive, lazy air traffic controllers anymore. I say we fire 'em all. Just another blatant example of wasteful, nanny government anyway.

Love live the Tea Party!!!

Tea Party. Have a very warm time burning in hell.

Chemtrails............

BAH!

A human body is a human body. I don't care whether you "excuse" it or not. It knows when it needs rest and it does what comes naturally. Anyone with common sense would know you would never put people at risk with having only one controller on duty. What happens if this person gets sick, passes out? The top dogs make all of these changes that affect peoples lives and when something goes wrong they ALWAYS want to blame the one on the end while they sit up in their high offices not taking the blame for anything.

Beauracracy!!! It always looks good on paper but it never works in real life!

So, Robtice, you're saying the three Presidents bored the controller so much he/she fell asleep? What's your point regarding air safety?

no, Robtice is talking about the lack of labor organization which is what leads to people working 13 hour shifts back to back, one or two people doing the job of several and then, ultimately, it leads to errors and public safety concerns. That's true and that is what he's talking about.

Um, none of you really have any clue why the fool fell asleep. He could have been partying all night for all you know which is more likely the case here.

One question - is Reagan National a for profit facility or not for profit? The difference may point to part of the problem.