Nor Man Gold Man Ties Ronald Reagan To Sleeping Air Traffic Controller At Washington National ......

[global1]

when I first heard of the sleeping air traffic controller at Washington National Airport (aka Reagan Airport) the first thing that came to my mind was the PATCO firing of air traffic controllers(atc's) by Reagan. I thought - what goes around comes around - the irony of it all.

I was going to post something here at DU - but have been busy and couldn't get to the computer. Then today I'm listening to Nor Man Gold Man on WCPT radio in Chicago and he laid out the whole thing. Reagan fired the atc's. Corners have been cut ever since. Control towers can have one atc on at at time at night. Now we have a atc falling asleep. He spoke of another atc that left his post and went to the bathroom and locked himself out of the tower. This practice is endangering lives. People could have died on those planes that didn't have guidance.

And guess what - it can all be traced back to President Ronald Reagan.

And what's worse - this is what happens when the worker is targeted.

If this was Obama - this incident by now would be Obama's undoing.

Let's take down Reagan and the Repugs with this incident.

[TxVietVet]

1. I agree. ronnie raygun is the cause of the issues with the ATC's.

Every conservanazi since has tried to screw the ATC's. They don't want to update the computer systems, they don't want to hire, they want the ATC's to fail so they can give a lucrative contract to a briber of theirs. "Privatize" is a crock of conservanazi bu$hit.

[catenary]

2. There has been an AWFUL lot of pearl-clutching over this non-emergency...

thousands of planes land every day without talking to a control tower. Some of the talking heads have been breathless about how close "Reagan National" (I refuse to call it that, it will always be Washington National to me) is to important buildings in the D of C and presumably to persons...which is true enough, but anyone in control of a large airplane bent on serious mischief can't be stopped by a guy in a tall building with a radio.

[spooky3]

5. I think the point is that pilots NOT "bent on serious mischief" and

their passengers can be placed in danger by inadequate air traffic control. Those are the incidents that easily can be prevented.

[catenary]

12. There was plenty of adequate ATC, nobody was in any danger.

But the proximity to 'sensitive places' was one of the big talking points.

[spooky3]

16. By that logic, why pay anyone to work in the control tower at all?

[catenary]

17. That's actually a valid question these days with the advent of precision GPS approaches

and vastly improved radar coverage at many airports. The "tower" does not use radar, it depends on visual sightings of aircraft to do its job (although many of them now have minimal slave radar displays available as a backup tool). There are hundreds of airports with no control tower at all and many more with part-time tower operation, to my knowledge there has never been any case made for a lack of safety due to those realities.

Of course, at busy airports at busy TIMES, the local controller (the 'tower') is very useful in maximizing efficiency and along with the ground controllers does under those conditions improve the margin of safety over what would be realized with the same amount of traffic flow WITHOUT them. ATC cannot issue an approach clearance at a non-towered airport until the pilot of the previously cleared flight has informed them the flight is complete (they cancel IFR)
this is something the local controller can see for him/herself and confirm with the pilot (and advise ATC) which saves a lot of time if traffic is significant.

[global1]

7. I Think You're Missing The Point Here......

these planes had no guidance into the airport by somebody that can see all the other planes in the area - that is the atc. Flying without the guidance of an atc can cause midair collisions. We're not talking about a atc stopping a terrorist bent on flying a plane into a building. Again - we're talking about a pilots need for guidance in landing the airplane so as to not hit another one in the process. Without guidance by a atc - that is a tricky proposition.

[catenary]

13. Not at all true, they were on regional radar all the time and talking to those

controllers. There is nothing tricky about landing without atc "guidance"...trust me, I've done it thousands of times.
As a matter of fact, the pilot is the final authority and has the final responsibility to avoid other traffic in clear weather. If the conditions were IMC (in clouds) it would have gone a little differently, those airliners would simply have been issued clearances to make instrument approaches to DCA (if they wished) or sent to some other airport.

[Arctic Dave]

3. I cannot believe they have only one person on shift for a tower.

What happens if they slip and crack their head or have a heart attack or some other medical emergency.

Reagen was a idiot of astronomical proportions and this proves it.

[valerief]

4. Makes it kinda crazy for people to fly, doesn't it? nt

[Rage for Order]

6. I'm convinced. I'll never vote for Ronald Reagan again!!!

Consider him taken down!!!!

:silly:

[catenary]

14. I never voted for him before but I sure would now if he runs!

:D

[HipChick]

8. Was he really sleeping though? or locked out..there is a noise curfew at DCA airport after 10pm

and some planes cannot land there anyway..so I don't think we have all the facts on this story yet..and if you can't land, they get redirected to either Dulles or BWI..

"From 2200 to 0700 hours local time, operations of aircraft type and model which exceed the following noise levels violate metropolitan Washington Airport Authority Regulations (MWAR) 3.11: Departures — 72dBA as generated on takeoff."

"Arrivals — 85dBA as generated on approach, except that aircraft scheduled to arrive before 2200 will be permitted to land if they have received an approach clearance before 2230."

- ATC will grant T/O or landing clearance to any aircraft at any time - but some fairly hefty fines for exceeding the noise limits tend to insure compliance. So any airline can schedule flights at any time as long as they are pretty confident that those flights won't exceed the noise limit and result in a fine.

[godai]

9. DC local news indicated that he has admitted falling asleep.

A plane trying to land contacted another airport and someone there called a landline in the tower but no answer. I believe there is a recording indicating that this has happened before, apparently without publicity.

[godai]

11. Link

http://wtop.com/?nid=41&sid=2318467

WASHINGTON (AP) - Should jetliners be landing with only a single air traffic controller on duty _ even if he's awake? Federal officials are grappling with that question following the safe landing of two jetliners this week with no help from the lone air traffic supervisor on duty at Washington's Reagan National Airport.

He's been suspended, and safety investigators say he has acknowledged he was asleep.

Still, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association warned at the time against putting controllers alone on shifts and assigning tiring work schedules.

The union's president, Paul Rinaldi, made the same point again on Thursday: "One-person shifts are unsafe. Period."

"It's not outrageous for the agency to avoid putting a second six-figure employee into a tower where they may only work a dozen airplanes in a shift," said Bill Voss, president of the Flight Safety Foundation of Alexandria, Va., and a former air traffic controller.


The airport, in Arlington, Va., just across the Potomac River from Washington, typically has four to five scheduled landings between midnight and 6 a.m. plus a few unscheduled takeoffs or landings, FAA officials said.

[Octafish]

10. Pruneface fell asleep with the Pope.

Pruneface fired the Air Traffic Controllers from PATCO.

It's the universe trying to tell us something.

[Poiuyt]

15. Most of our problems can be traced back to Reagan

The fact that many people consider him to be a god just boggles my mind. He's had really good PR since leaving office.