Washington Airport Controller Falls Asleep, Commercial Aircraft Land Themselves

[RADIOMAN015]

Wow
See:  http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/03/ntsb-says-yes-the-washington-n.html

I know at our support military base we reside on, they normally have two controllers on duty all the time.  HOWEVER, I remember about a year ago while listening to the radio scanner on the tower frequency, NO one could raise the tower.  Finally the state police helicopter flew very close to the tower to look into the windows to see if the operator was ok and apparently he was just sitting there.  Finally came up on the tower frequency.

I was getting ready to call base ops when I heard aircraft calling the tower without response BUT the State PD helo finally got the operators attention.   Now I would think that the military would at least have some receivers  (and better yet transceivers)  in base operations and the command post that would allow them to monitor both ground control & tower operations in case something like this happens again.  I don't know if the operator had an equipment failure or something else.

Again if you have an interest in aero comms get yourself  a scanner or monitor via the internet your local area ATC facilities and IF you hear a problem have the appropriate telephone numbers to call and report.  Remember to tell them that you are part of the CIVIL AIR PATROL (no kidding on this btw) :angel: :clap:

RM     

[JeffDG]

Again if you have an interest in aero comms get yourself  a scanner or monitor via the internet your local area ATC facilities and IF you hear a problem have the appropriate telephone numbers to call and report.  Remember to tell them that you are part of the CIVIL AIR PATROL (no kidding on this btw) :angel: :clap:

So, you're advising people to claim the authority of CAP on something that nobody in their chain-of-command has asked or authorized them to do?  Go ahead and call, but if you're not acting on behalf of CAP, don't claim to be. 

[Spaceman3750]

This has really ben sensationalized by the media. The aircraft in question had approach services from the TRACON, all they really lost was proof positive of a clear runway, and they were under visual conditions.

[RADIOMAN015]

Again if you have an interest in aero comms get yourself  a scanner or monitor via the internet your local area ATC facilities and IF you hear a problem have the appropriate telephone numbers to call and report.  Remember to tell them that you are part of the CIVIL AIR PATROL (no kidding on this btw) :angel: :clap:

So, you're advising people to claim the authority of CAP on something that nobody in their chain-of-command has asked or authorized them to do?  Go ahead and call, but if you're not acting on behalf of CAP, don't claim to be.

Well having personal military experience of being Airman in Charge of the night shift (actually total staffing of me,myself, & I) I have real empathy with anyone working on a job were the mission tempo might not be very high and you are sitting at a desk waiting for something to happen. 

HOWEVER, this could be a good passive mission for those CAP members that monitor radio comms as a hobby or again even with some encouragement from the CAP chain of command part of a watch campaign.  It shows that CAP is part of the aviation community and is always vigilant and taking a proactive approach to assisting, even if just a simply a telephone call.  There's a lot of simple things we can do, requiring very little effort & resources BUT yet can be important.   

I keep a list of all essential telephone numbers of all the control towers, fixed base operators, military command posts, military base operations, including Air Route Traffic Control Center Watch Officer , as well as various law enforcement/public safety central dispatch centers.   

RM

[Eclipse]

Why are you sitting there listening to the tower?

And why would you think this is in any way a CAP matter?  There are all sorts of people who's job it is to worry about this, you, presumably,
are not on that list, especially in your CAP capacity.

Hint: This would be a better use of your time:  http://www.dishnetwork.com/

Or this: 

[RADIOMAN015]

Why are you sitting there listening to the tower?

And why would you think this is in any way a CAP matter?  There are all sorts of people who's job it is to worry about this, you, presumably,
are not on that list, especially in your CAP capacity.

Whether I was a Cap'er or not, I am still monitoring appropriate public safety, aero, and other radio services of interest, because I like to know what is going on around me (that might affect me, my family, or co workers).   IF I can be helpful by what I've monitored than I will take appropriate action.   I do believe that at least in the aero side of the monitoring mentioning of affiliation with CAP is a plus.  Real simple, not that expensive mission to implement at the local level.  (Also we do have a donated radio scanner/receiver in the squadron and do monitor appropriate air traffic control & public safety frequencies/radio systems). 
RM     

[wuzafuzz]

Listen away, enjoy. Scanning and monitoring can be fun.  It's also true that can be a fine way to stay informed of things the news doesn't report.  However, the moment anyone appoints themself as some sort of "helper," "watcher," or whatever, in CAP's name...they give us all a bad name.  It conjures up images of goobers with unnecessary light bars and "radio response team" stickers on their Ford Pintos or Pacers.  Even doing so independently strikes me as a little creepy, but at least people won't accuse CAP of said creepiness.

I am NOT bagging on scanner or radio hobbyists here.  I am one.  Scanners proved very useful when I worked in public safety and solved all manner of "interoperability problems" everyone insists we need zillion dollar systems for today.  Just maintain some balance and don't be a whacker.

[AirDX]

Last thing anyone official needs is some dufus on the phone restating the obvious.  Trust me, they are way ahead of YOU.

I'm a scanner/radio guy myself, like to tune in to know what's up, but I keep to myself beyond that.

[Flymetothemoon]

What does a controller who is working by his/her self do when nature calls?

[RADIOMAN015]

Last thing anyone official needs is some dufus on the phone restating the obvious.  Trust me, they are way ahead of YOU.

I'm a scanner/radio guy myself, like to tune in to know what's up, but I keep to myself beyond that.

As I said, these telephone calls are made by me ONLY in RARE instances when I know via monitoring there's an issue not known to them.    On our support base it's generally microphones stuck in the on position in base ops, command post, or base metro/weather.  These are UHF AM radio freqs and generally aren't monitored by others agencies on the base.   Always remember we are the CIVIL Air Patrol, always vigilant and ready to help!
RM     

[RADIOMAN015]

What does a controller who is working by his/her self do when nature calls?

Likely they just make a call to aircraft to stand by and also let approach/departure control know.

It is NEVER a good idea to have only one person in a critical operations area on duty.   This is partially the FAA's fault also, since they should have known this was possible.  Also the location of the airport seems to also be an important factor in perhaps keeping two people on duty.

In the AF I personally hated the rotating night shifts and being the lone guy on duty responsible for responding to everything.   and YES sometimes when the hot line rang I was in the bathroom.     

What usually happens in public safety dispatch centers is the dispatcher has to call someone in (likely a patrol vehicle) to answer the phones while they use the rest room.  Do they sometimes take chances and just go to the bathroom, probably, especially if the unit is 15 minutes out.

I guess one could also wear adult diapers IF it was that critical to remain on post and their was no personal staffing availability to assist.
RM     

[AirDX]

What does a controller who is working by his/her self do when nature calls?

I worked in a contract tower for a while after I retired from FAA.  We had one person pretty much all the time.  We had a radio panel and handset in the restroom.  I might have a picture somewhere...

[a2capt]

Last civilian tower I took a tour of, I asked that exact question .. and thats the answer I got too. "The head is wired for communication" .. "We can do business while we do business if we need to."

[RADIOMAN015]

There's been a lot more incidents of sleeping on the job air traffic control personnel. Just use google news and search terms "air traffic control asleep", to get all the discussions.

One of the networks (maybe CNN) had a segment that apparently ATC personnel rotate shifts.   When I first entered the AF I use to rotate 12 hour shifts, 2 days (0700 to 1900), 2 nights (1900 to 0700), & then 3 days off, and many times I had no idea what day it was.   In fact the AF did a study on Security Police and shift work and concluded that personnel should remain on a specific shift for long periods of time rather than constant rotation in order to be effective & safe.

Got to wonder what is the basis of ATC rotating shifts so quickly.  One example was a person could work an 8 hour day shift, get off, and be scheduled that same night for the overnight shift with an 8 hour break from work (e.g. early evenings).     

RM

[hogfan]

I had a buddy that would work the early shift at a less-busy class C.  He told me that when he was working up in the tower cab, he'd take off his headset and turn up the external speakers.  He'd lay back in his chair, kick his feet up and sleep.  Apparently, when turned all the way up, his speakers would wake the dead. 

As a pilot, this was fairly alarming to me.  The fact that he didn't have any situational awareness or visual perspective of the ramps and taxiways until the moment that the radio call would wake him up.  On the other hand, I had a certain amount of understanding when he would hear maybe one or two radio calls from 3 or 4 up until about 7 am. 

This was about 8 or 10 years ago, I think after all this recent media coverage, he's probably taking no-doze and playing a lot of solitaire...       

[JeffDG]

This was about 8 or 10 years ago, I think after all this recent media coverage, he's probably taking no-doze and playing a lot of solitaire...     

That's part of the problem.  Some idiot has decreed that controllers on duty are not permitted such distractions as solitaire, or even a book to read.  So, you're alone, in the middle of the night, with no distractions permitted...what do you think is going to happen?

[a2capt]

Heh, reminds me of one middle of the night into the early morning flight across KS from Omaha. The controller actually wanted to talk when I was switched to a different sector. "you're the first one I've had in three hours, and with your destination, and being a 172, you'll be with me for a while.."