Unless you have been living under a rock as of late then you heard all the mishaps of air traffic controllers across the country. In this year alone the FAA has reported seven different cases of a controller falling asleep while on the job. I also read an account of a controller caught watching a movie during their shift. Let's say you work at McDonald's and sneak a quick nap while on the job, what's the worst that could happen? I’d guess a backed up line, coworkers angry with you, and more than likely termination. Air traffic controllers don't flip burgers though; these people are responsible for the safe flight paths of numerous flights taking place simultaneously. Falling asleep on this job is more than just a minor infraction; you put a lot of lives at risk while in dream land.
Just recently things got a lot more serious than they already could be. On Monday a plane that First Lady Michelle Obama was on had to abort its landing after according to the NTSB "an air traffic controller had sequenced it too close to another military plane,". Imagine how those in charge were feeling after all this sudden scrutiny they were under, now times it by a thousand. This lapse wasn't just a commercial flight interrupted; we're talking about a flight carrying the leader of the free world's wife. It was also rumored by an unknown source to have as well been carrying Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden. FAA administrator Randy Babbitt appeared to be less than happy when he said "None of us in this business can tolerate any of this,", he described his self as being "infuriated" with the situations taking place as of late.
Bob Richards a former controller and author of the book "Secrets From The Tower" has said "I think inside the profession, everybody knows this goes on,” Really? I wish I could work in a "profession" where sleeping and fooling around on the job is considered standard knowledge. Now to be fair I have no experience when it comes to air traffic controlling nor does anyone that I know, but from the outside looking in I'm willing to guess there isn't much hard labor involved. So what causes such fatigue for someone to fall asleep while helping to navigate something as large as a plane? Maybe staring at a screen all day, believe me I know what can do to your eyes. Possibly it could be that it's not uncommon for a controller to work alone during a shift, the lack of another physical person around you could make it easy to doze off. I'm not making any excuses for these people because keep in mind according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics the annual pay for an air traffic controller in 2009 was $109,000. That's a nice chunk of change especially when you consider the added perk of being able to take a nap while on duty.
At the end of the day I'm with the FAA and NTSB on this one. The behavior of these air controllers is nothing short of unacceptable and downright unprofessional. It's good to know there are plans to overhaul how the systems works and make it more automated, which will take some of the load off the air controllers. As of today we are lucky to say this has not turned into a situation with fatal consequences and it very well could have in the blink of an eye. Hopefully those under the microscope right now are able to turn this thing around and get operations running as smooth and flawless as possible.
For more on this story, click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment