Air Traffic Controller Falls Asleep
Friday, March 25, 2011 at 9:48PM And you too can listen live.
I have to admit, I have the LIVEATC app for my iPad so I can listen to air traffic controllers and pilots as they fly into and out of various airports.
If I would've been listening to the feed coming from Washinton Reagan in the wee hours of Wednesday morning I would've caught this...
A veteran air traffic controller who was staffing the tower at Washington Reagan National Airport early Wednesday has admitted he was napping when two airplanes tried unsuccessfully to contact the tower.
One plane was able to talk with a regional controller and pulled the jet from 400 feet to 1,000 feet, circling the airport before landing safely a few minutes past midnight. Around that time, another aircraft from Chicago was coming into range.
While the airport usually has two traffic controllers working during the day, only one controller works the overnight shift. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood ordered the Federal Aviation Administration to add a second controller to midnight traffic at Reagan. "It is not acceptable to have just one controller in the tower managing air traffic in this critical air space," he said. The incident at Reagan garnered national attention because it is located just a few miles from the Pentagon, the White House, and the U.S. Capitol.
It's a great app, and you can listen to airports all over the world. Too bad I never get to hear anything that interesting.
