air traffic control

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More Rest for Air Traffic Controllers: LaHood

Controllers must now have at least nine hours between shifts

(Newser) - Following reports of at least seven air traffic controllers falling asleep on the job , the US government announced today that controllers will have more time to rest between shifts under new work rules, but Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood made clear he won't tolerate sleeping on duty despite studies and...

FAA's Air Traffic Head Resigns After Sleep Incidents

Another controller nodded off in Nevada yesterday

(Newser) - The head of the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization resigned today, amid a wave of reports of air traffic controllers sleeping on the job . Hank Krakowski submitted his resignation this morning to FAA chief Randy Babbitt, the Washington Post reports, who promised a “top to bottom” review of the...

Four More Dozing Air Traffic Controllers Suspended

FAA will add controllers at 26 airports

(Newser) - The epidemic of snoozing air traffic controllers continues: Four more have been suspended for nodding off on the job, the FAA announced yesterday. One of those was a controller at Nevada's Reno-Tahoe International Airport, who slept for 16 minutes early yesterday as an airborne ambulance carrying a patient landed with...

Second Napping Controller Found ... With Blankie

Knoxville air traffic controller intentionally slept, FAA says

(Newser) - After a DC air traffic controller fell asleep on the job , the FAA learned of a second one who did the same thing—but this one did it intentionally. The Knoxville air traffic controller went so far as to find cushions and a blanket to use for his nap, Reuters...

Snoozing Controller's Excuse: 'Stuck Mike'

Supervisor who fell asleep on the job has been suspended

(Newser) - The air traffic supervisor who fell asleep early Wednesday at Reagan National Airport, forcing two planes to land on their own , was suspended yesterday. Federal officials say the veteran controller was also given a drug test, although the FAA will not confirm the testing or the results. The Washington Post...

Planes Landed as DC Controller Slept

FAA probing incident at Reagan National Airport

(Newser) - Two planes were forced to land without guidance or clearance from the control tower at Reagan National Airport outside Washington, DC, because the air traffic supervisor was asleep, federal officials say. Efforts to reach the supervisor—the only controller on duty at the time—failed, and the late-night flights early...

Air Traffic Control Errors Soar 81%

But FAA say it's just because more are being reported

(Newser) - The number of air traffic control errors reported to the FAA has taken off over the past three years, climbing 81% from 2007 to 2010. More than 1,800 incidents were reported last year, according to USA Today , including 43 classified as the kind of error most likely to cause...

Air Tower Kids Feel Bad for Getting Dad Fired

Brother-in-law: 'We all take our kids to work'

(Newser) - The 9-year-old twins who were caught helping their dad direct traffic at JFK are devastated that their pop lost his job—and are blaming themselves. "They feel it's their fault," their uncle, Larry Johnstone, tells the Daily News . "They're thinking, 'Daddy's in trouble because of me.'"...

Kid Directs Air Traffic at JFK
 Kid Directs Air Traffic at JFK 
brilliant ideas dept
Mar 3, 2010 10:16 AM CST

Kid Directs Air Traffic at JFK

Air traffic controller apparently allows child to take reins

(Newser) - Take Your Child to Work Day reached a whole new level when an air traffic controller apparently let his kid direct traffic at New York’s JFK airport, spurring an FAA investigation. The child’s voice is heard making five transmissions in audio recordings obtained by Fox , as pilots respond—...

Northwest Pilots Clammed Up After Overshooting Airport

FAA transcript shows pair blaming silence on 'cockpit distractions'

(Newser) - Air traffic controllers who sought an explanation from the pilots of the "runaway plane," which overshot the Minneapolis airport by about 100 miles last month, got little satisfaction. After being out of radio contact for over an hour, controllers asked the crew of Northwest Flight 188 for a...

Agencies Squabble Over Controller's Role in Hudson Crash

(Newser) - The National Transportation Board's view of the events that caused last weekend's crash over the Hudson River doesn't jibe with the FAA's, the Wall Street Journal reports. The NTSB chronology released yesterday suggests that errors from air traffic controllers—one of whom was one the phone to his girlfriend at...

Air Controller Failed to Warn Hudson Pilot

Controller failed to inform him, NTSB report finds

(Newser) - An air traffic controller failed to warn the pilot of a plane in last weekend's mid-air collision over the Hudson River, the National Transportation Safety Board ruled today. Chatting on the phone, the controller did not inform the pilot that "there were several aircraft detected by radar in the...

Air Traffic Controllers Suspended Over Hudson Crash

During it, one was on phone with girlfriend

(Newser) - The two air traffic controllers on duty at Teterboro Airport during Saturday's mid-air collision over the Hudson River have been suspended and will likely be fired, the New York Daily News reports. Investigators have found that one of the men was on the phone to his girlfriend at the time...

FAA May Shut 20 Air Traffic Weather Offices

Under plan, 2 forecast centers would serve entire country

(Newser) - The FAA may close 20 weather offices in air traffic control centers across the US, and instead connect all air traffic controllers to a pair of stations in Maryland and Missouri, the Washington Post reports. The money-saving plan would mean cutting controllers’ face-to-face contact with weather officials, something technology has...

Hackers Expose Holes in Air Traffic Safety

Vulnerabilities abound ahead of planned $20B FAA upgrade

(Newser) - Civilian air traffic computer networks are riddled with security holes, and hackers have breached them several times in the past few years, the Wall Street Journal reports. Intruders could gain access to operational systems by first hacking into administrative areas using 763 separate “high risk” holes in those systems,...

Mont. Plane Didn't Report Trouble: NTSB

All passengers died when turboprop plane crashed in Butte

(Newser) - The plane that crashed yesterday in Montana, killing all 14 aboard, gave no indication to air traffic controllers that the aircraft was experiencing difficulty when the pilot asked to divert to an airport in Butte, a federal safety official said today. There was "no indication of any trouble when...

Tapes Point to Ice as Crash Factor

Nearby pilots report icy conditions

(Newser) - Icy conditions may have been a factor in the plane crash near Buffalo that killed 50 last night, the Buffalo News reports. Just after the disaster, air traffic controllers asked other nearby pilots about ice. Several confirmed that they had "picked up rime ice." After a long pause,...

FAA Releases Audio of Hudson Landing

(Newser) - The Federal Aviation Administration today released remarkable audio recordings capturing pilot Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger’s decision to land US Airways flight 1549 in the Hudson River. Sullenberger can be heard discussing the Jan. 15 landing with air-traffic control, CNN reports. As controllers scramble to find a runway for...

Will Fewer Flights Mean Fewer Delays?

Sorry, says FAA: don't expect airlines to cut on crowded routes

(Newser) - With fuel prices soaring into the skies, fewer airplanes will be following suit, but don't think that translates to less time on the tarmac. Airlines' cutbacks will ground planes, but mostly on less-traveled routes to smaller cities, the New York Times reports. The congestion at LAX and JFK isn't likely...

Planes Nearly Collide Over Pittsburgh

Evasive maneuvers prevent mid-air crash after air-traffic trainee errs

(Newser) - A quick nosedive by a Delta pilot narrowly averted a mid-air collision of two passenger planes over Pittsburgh this morning, after an air traffic control trainee told a Delta pilot to turn into another jet’s path. The planes, carrying 120 passengers between them, missed each other by a scant...

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