FAA Adds Controllers After New Napping Incident
By JOHN KELL
The Federal Aviation Administration said it would immediately place an additional air-traffic controller on the midnight shift at 27 U.S. control towers following another incident of a controller apparently napping while a plane was coming in for a landing.
In the latest case, early Wednesday in Nevada, the controller at Reno-Tahoe International Airport was allegedly asleep while a medical flight carrying an ill patient was approaching. The controller, who was allegedly out of communication for about 16 minutes, has been suspended while the FAA investigates. The flight landed safely.
The incident follows a similar situation last month at Reagan National Airport, outside of the District of Columbia, in which two jets landed without guidance after a controller fell asleep while on an overnight shift.
The FAA is conducting a review of the air-traffic-control system to look at issues of staffing and scheduling. The agency has already suspended a controller in Seattle for falling asleep during his morning shift Monday, and suspended two controllers in Lubbock, Texas, after they failed to hand off control of a departing aircraft to the Fort Worth Air Route Traffic Control Center.
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