We spend hundreds of millions of dollars irradiating passengers at airport checkpoints as part of TSA’s security theater, and yet we can’t afford a second air traffic controller on the overnight shift at a major airport just four miles from the White House:
JUST AFTER MIDNIGHT on Wednesday, two jets were forced to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport without assistance from the control tower after their calls for instructions went unanswered. And after phone calls went unreturned. There wasn’t even a response to the “shout line” loudspeaker in the control tower. The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating. In the meantime, the lone air traffic controller on duty, who was reportedly asleep, has been suspended from operational duties.
And this wasn’t the first time. Last year the lone controller on duty accidentally locked himself out of the tower, causing two jets to land without assistance.
But, you know, in the unlikely event my 14-year-old daughter attempts to smuggle explosives on board in her underwear, there’s about 30 percent chance they might catch her. So nothing to worry about.
After Reagan famously “busted” the air traffic controllers union, there was an uptick and plane crashes.
No one could have predicted…
Wait. A major airport that has only ONE ARC on duty at any given time? Whuuuuuut!? When did this start happening?
People paying taxes for the overall safety of the community dates back to long before the term “socialism” was ever muttered, but don’t let facts get in the way of an old, tired, unfunny, useless leftist meme.
It is rather fitting that this airport is named after the man who fired all the air traffic controllers and broke their union. Those union members wanted things like breaks and better staffing so they wouldn’t keep falling asleep at their posts. In short, just like the Wisconsin teachers, they were getting greedy.
Thank goodness Papa Reagan taught them a lesson. Who cares if doing so endangered the public and lead to preventable fatalities?
Perhaps you could explain why a second controller – making a six-figure salary – is necessary when Reagan averages four to five takeoffs and landings between midnight and 6 a.m.
It’s only fitting that this happens at Regan Airport, no?
Oh fart, I mean Reagan.
But papa Reagan?
@5,
Perhaps you can explain why the planes each need two pilots?
sure, people paying taxes that served to protect the interests of the landed gentry and the capital rich while denying basic human, civil and natural rights, existed long before the magna carta, the us and french revolutions, the abolition of the slavery trade and then the peoples revolutions; but the reason those very things happened was as response to those inequities, not as a sick sort of justification of them.
@5:
For the same reason we have two pilots who earn six-figure salaries flying an airplane that technically can be flown quite easily by only one; to insure that there’s a backup in the event – however remote or unlikely – the first pilot is unable to carry out their duties.
Or do you also expect that lone controller to hold their bowels and bladder for an entire eight-hour shift as well? Because you DO realize that tower is also unoccupied whenever that controller has to use the bathroom, right?
Maybe Bill Bob Thornton was sleeping with his wife.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmUMdlXTs…
Show me a Republican, and I will show you an America-hating Terrorist. Let’s exercise the Bush Doctrine and preemptively execute all registered Republicans for the sake of Freedom, Justice and the American Way.
Well, at least one of those two pilots is actually doing something. This guy’s little more than a highly-paid night watchman.
@5 and 14 air traffic control is considered one of the most stressful jobs around, and I have no idea where you’re getting a “six figure salary” a quick internet search reveals the average is around 43000 a year. Its one of those jobs where it seems like they don’t do anything, but when shit hits the fan boy are you glad they’re there.
Fifty-Two-Eighty: I generally think you’re a smart guy… and then you spew shit like this.
So far as I’m concerned, air traffic controllers are underpaid at an average salary of $111,870.
I’d go so far to say that the American economy would be vastly healthier if anyone who did something useful for work–draining pus, directing air traffic, cleaning shit and piss stains out of toilets, mopping floors, staying up all night and protecting sensitive sites, attempting to teach teenagers–had a salary that started in the low six figures.
If anyone could use a paycut in the United States, it would be anyone who sits at a desk, doing a job that is easy, pleasant and desirable–banking, law, politics, PR and punditry of all sorts.
@16 – Golob, please tell me you’re breeding! Your genes MUST be passed on, you sexy brain!
How apropos that the President who dozed, snoozed, napped & slept through his two terms is the one who spawned this control room chaos.
you know i agree with the outrage, and the lovely Reagan connection to this absurdity… but I challenge the assertion that there’s been an uptick in accidents – air travel is safer than crossing the street (and has been for a very long time) and the US routinely goes years without a single commercial fatality. Air travel has never been safer.
There’s a big difference between having a redundant tower controller and having a co-pilot though. If a single pilot has the fish and biffs it, you’re SOL unless Ted Striker is onboard. If an air traffic controller nods off or is otherwise incapacitated, it’s easy enough for someone at another location to take over. The tower is only really important because the controllers can see the planes on the ground and shunt them appropriately to keep things moving efficiently. Otherwise, someone at the center control can perform the tower controller’s duty using radar and transponder data. It’s also easy enough for the pilots to treat the airport as an uncontrolled field, which is what happened here without incident. Plenty of smaller airports are uncontrolled and handle more traffic during the day than Ronald Reagan does in the middle of the night.
The TSA must grab my balls for explosives, but who gives a fuck where the plane is, that’s not even the focus anymore. You forgot about how tax cuts for the rich are going to setup a stimulus program where as the people on the plane must pay a ransom to a rich bloke before getting the super secret landing codes for his airport we can sell him for a dollar. It’s all part of our national freedom agenda, everyone’s freedom is respected and if the plane can’t pay up that’s just natural selection. I believe it was god who said, he who cannot pay the toll to land at the airport of his choosing shall be forced to land without knowing any technical details. Besides planes are PERFECTLY safe, we’ve never had accidents with them ever.
Former homeland security director Michael Chertoff made millions aggressively promoting the scanners, and consulting for OMI systems, the manufacturer of the scanners a year prior to the “underwear bombing”.
Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, the “underwear” bomber was delivered to the airport and placed on the plane by a “sharp dressed man” who had influence with airport authorities. http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.……
He was also suspiciously removed from a terror watch list prior to the flight.
Air travel may or may not be safe now, but I read that there were an unusual number of plane crashes all the same, after Reagan busted the air traffic controllers.
@5 / @14
Your comments on this topic are RETARDED. Did Will steal your password?
The best thing you can do is shut your hole and come back when you have even a tiny fraction of knowledge about air traffic control. Maybe listen to channel 9 on United a bit?
I am disappoint with this thread.
Seriously is that too much to ask for that a guy be awake during his shift? Not to knock unions but this reminds me of a 80’s era USSR joke about Socialism/full employment – the one about the the guy paid to watch a cow and another guy paid to watch him
Golob, I generally think you’re a smart guy too. But when I hear of a guy who’s making $111,000 a year and whose only job is to stay awake, and he isn’t even able to do that, I fail to see where the solution to the problem is to throw more money at it. Can the idiot’s ass and give the job to someone who can keep their damned eyes open. I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who would be happy to have it.
Maybe we oughta split the difference and pay someone minimum wage to occasionally flick the controller’s nose to make sure he or she is awake.
@5280,
His job is not only to stay awake, it’s also to direct air traffic and deal with emergencies if they occur. Yeah, Reagan doesn’t get much traffic, but you need someone on the fucking ball to deal with shit when it hits the fan.
I mean hell, I’ll gladly take his job… and for half the salary too… I’ll have zero problem staying awake, promise! But if there are a couple fiery disasters around D.C. in the next few years, don’t blame me, blame the guy who hired me not because I know the first thing about air traffic control, but because I was cheap and can stay awake.
TVDinner for the win.
Seemingly lost in all this is the fact that this guy was on his fourth straight overnight. There’s a reason why pilots aren’t allowed to fly more than 8 hours in any 24 hour period and must have time on the ground (I think it’s 18 hours) before resuming flight.
Given that the overnight is usually the low seniority shit shift in all industries, the likelihood is he was making sub-$50,000 to make sure you land safely and no planes deviate course and head for the White House. (Funny the “We need to pay crazy salaries to attract the most skilled people” argument only seems to apply to CEOs. The rest of you, suck it up. Spent 100k on a degree and specialized training. Well, you can pay that back with half your salary over the next 8 years, right?)
http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos108.htm
Oh, and to all of you out there pointing fingers at the Air Traffic Controllers’ Union – this guy was a non-union supervisor.
Among other duties the person in the tower may have it is be there ready to perform when an emergency is declared. It’s a safety net for the unthinkable that may need a human brain to make quick, experienced decisions.
That second person doesn’t need to be the top of the scale. It could be a trainee or someone destined for higher management or airport operational management getting some real world experience.
But if the proverbial waste matter hits the fan I would want someone experienced with airport operations being able to lay eyes on the scene from the tower.
Lastly, this was at an airport only a few short miles from the White House. If anything, I would think you would want non-stop human coverage on all areas capable of launching an aircraft. If an unauthorized aircraft was moving around and wasn’t spotted by the tower, then the next line of observation is radar. By then it’s too late.
How exactly does that work on a flight to Australia? Do they parachute out?
I think, perhaps, you are mistaken.
@35 In-flight crew changes, in all likelihood.
@35 Some flights have two full crews. There are bunks behind the flight deck.
Yet another example of something the private sector could do more efficiently. If the democrat party hadn’t long ago engineered the government takeover of air traffic control duties we could have had 2 workers each making $25,000, or even 3 at $17,000. Quality control would be maintained because if there were too many crashes at that airport people would vote with their pocketbooks and fly into other airports with a different air traffic contractor.
Karenin…you’re trolling, yes? You want to pay three people $17,000 a year to be overnight ATCs? Lemme ask you…what kind of employee do you think you could get for that? Because someone with a minimum of brains, integrity, and work ethic ain’t gonna work for that money.