Air traffic controller suspended for watching movie at work

[n2doc]

From the Associated Press
April 19, 2011, 3:49 a.m.
WASHINGTON— An air traffic controller has been suspended for watching a movie when he was supposed to be monitoring aircraft, deepening the Federal Aviation Administration's embarrassment following at least five cases of controllers sleeping on the job.

In the latest incident, the controller was watching a movie on a DVD player early Sunday morning while on duty at a regional radar center in Oberlin, Ohio, near Cleveland that handles high-altitude air traffic, the FAA said in a statement Monday.

The controller's microphone was inadvertently activated, transmitting the audio of the movie - the 2007 crime thriller "Cleaner," starring Samuel L. Jackson - for more than three minutes to all the planes in the airspace that the controller was supposed to be monitoring, the agency said.

The controller's microphone became stuck in the transmit position, preventing him from hearing incoming radio calls or issuing instructions to planes during the incident, the agency said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-naw-air-traffic-controller-20110419,0,3895387.story

[SoCalDem]

1. fair.. There are just some jobs that demand full attention n/t

[Dennis Donovan]

2. Of all the Sam Jackson movies, why couldn't it have been "Snakes on a Plane"?

Can you imagine being a pilot and hearing over the radio "muthafuckin' snakes on this muthafuckin' plane"? :rofl:

[Luciferous]

6. : )

[Turbineguy]

3. At least it wasn't

a porno. He might have had difficulty standing up or something.

[Vinca]

4. Maybe he was trying to keep himself awake.

[RevStPatrick]

5. That's what I was just thinking.

Do they want him awake? Or not?