The Brave Little Toaster Oven Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/03/24/Reagan-tower-quiet-2-planes-land-on-own/UPI-11871300965915/ WASHINGTON, March 24 (UPI) -- An investigation has begun into why Reagan National Airport control tower near Washington went quiet, forcing two planes to land on their own, officials said.The tower, normally staffed by one air traffic controller from midnight to 6 a.m., did not respond early Wednesday to pilot requests for landing assistance or to phone calls from controllers elsewhere, The Washington Post reported. Pilots of an American Airlines plane from Miami with 97 people and a United Airlines flight from Chicago with 68 people on board landed safely after they couldn't get an answer from the tower of the Arlington, Va., airport, investigators said. The pilots broadcast their progress as they approached and landed by communicating with controllers at another facility in the region that doesn't handle landing. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said told the Federal Aviation Administration to increase controller staffing at the airport during the overnight shift. "Today I directed the FAA to place two air traffic controllers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport's control tower on the midnight shift," LaHood said in a statement. "It is not acceptable to have just one controller in the tower managing air traffic in this critical air space. I have also asked FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt to study staffing levels at other airports around the country." A pilot of a third plane was alerted to the situation by the controller at the tower that doesn't handle landings, a source told the Post. "So you're aware," the controller said in the recorded conversation with the pilot, "the (Reagan airport) tower is apparently not manned. We've made a few phone calls. Two airplanes went in the past 10-15 minutes, so you can expect to go into an uncontrolled airport." By the time the third plane touched down, after about 30 minutes of silence, communication was restored. Overnight maintenance crews move across the runways to prepare for the morning, the source told the Post. Workers contact the tower on a special frequency to get clearance before crossing a runway. "There are people in the control tower for a reason," the source said. "There's a whole lot of activity going on during the night." http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/tower-at-reagan-national-goes-silent-as-planes-attempt-to-land/2011/03/23/AB9aslKB_story.html Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has ordered a second air traffic controller to be on duty overnight at Reagan National Airport, after the lone controller was unavailable early Wednesday as two passenger planes were trying to land.The first two planes landed and used information from their airlines to find the correct gates. By the time the third plane touched down, after about half an hour of silence, communication from the tower had been restored. The greatest risk posed by silence from the tower was on the ground rather than in the air. Planes routinely land in smaller airports without guidance from a tower. In a circumstance like the one that occurred at National, pilots get on the control tower radio frequency and relay their position, speed and distance to other pilots as they approach and land. “So, other airplanes would know, ‘Okay, he’s clear of the runway, so I’m good to go,’ ” said the source familiar with tower operations. On the ground, however, the slow nighttime hours are when maintenance crews crisscross the runway — sometimes towing planes — as they prepare for the next morning. “There are people in the control tower for a reason,” the source said. “There’s a whole lot of activity going on during the night.” Those maintenance workers contact the tower on a special frequency to get clearance before crossing a runway. Inbound pilots contact the tower on a different frequency. At airports where the tower shuts down for the night, ground crews and incoming pilots are required to use the same radio frequency to coordinate their actions. Air traffic controllers who direct more than 1.5 million flights annually in the Washington region made a record number of mistakes last year. Dozens of the errors triggered ****pit collision warning systems. Nationwide, errors by air traffic controllers increased by 51 percent last year. The record number of errors — locally and nationally — reflects a majority of cases in which planes came too close and some in which a potentially fatal outcome was narrowly averted. In January, an American Airlines plane carrying 259 people almost collided with a pair of 200-ton military cargo jets after departing New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. Official records show that a distracted controller did not respond to a warning from a colleague that the planes were on a converging course. click the link for more details Yeah....keep up the good work guys. You've already screwed me over on a personal level, might as well ruin some more families with your carelessness. :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Brave Little Toaster Oven Posted March 24, 2011 Author Share Posted March 24, 2011 ........... this latest board update has been infused with too many bugs...damn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forehead Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 Well....that's not reassuring at all. Where was the one guy, taking a dump? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Brave Little Toaster Oven Posted March 24, 2011 Author Share Posted March 24, 2011 Well....that's not reassuring at all. Where was the one guy, taking a dump? Probably, but they have phones and **** in there with them for that reason. You should hear some of the stories I've heard - a lot of dip****s have DVDs going and are preoccupied with other things (like heating up hot pockets or talking on their cell phones outside of the tower) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AsburySkinsFan Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 I heard this morning that the guy fell asleep......that just instills all kinds of confidence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffxdrummer Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 That's unreal, I figured there would like 10 different safeguards against this kind of thing happening. I never imagined that they would have only one person responsible for directing flights at a major metropolitan airport. Can't wait to fly out of National in September. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LD0506 Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 Does anyone else find it ironic that the ATC was "offline" at Reagan National? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thiebear Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 That is only funny if you're not in the plane. I guess hiring is going to go up by two and down by 1 there. Let's see: They put one guy in a tower by himself during the time nothing is happening. And they are shocked he fell asleep? Sounds like he was setup with that schedule. Any responsible manager would know not to do that, the budget guy won that argument. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimboDaMan Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 That is only funny if you're not in the plane.I guess hiring is going to go up by two and down by 1 there. Let's see: They put one guy in a tower by himself during the time nothing is happening. And they are shocked he fell asleep? Sounds like he was setup with that schedule. Any responsible manager would know not to do that, the budget guy won that argument. I'd have to agree, one guy by himself all night long? That's almost an invitation for trouble. Maybe at some podunk airfield, but National Airport?And where was the guy? I also heard he fell asleep. But just nodding off at your workstation, some of that stuff was bound to wake him up. I'll bet the desk-doze happens all the time. Gotta be more than that. <edit>Doesn't that airport have flight restrictions during the night hours? Or have those gone away? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Brave Little Toaster Oven Posted March 24, 2011 Author Share Posted March 24, 2011 And where was the guy? I also heard he fell asleep. But just nodding off at your workstation, some of that stuff was bound to wake him up. I'll bet the desk-doze happens all the time. Gotta be more than that. <edit>Doesn't that airport have flight restrictions during the night hours? Or have those gone away? http://www.thesoundarchive.com/play-wav-files.asp?sound=somethingaboutmary/marymaster.wav damn sounds wouldnt work ---------- Post added March-24th-2011 at 09:36 AM ---------- Doesn't that airport have flight restrictions during the night hours? Or have those gone away? I'm pretty sure Reagan Tower isnt just for Reagan airport - they work with all flights in the area (EmergencyMedicalService Missions, Military, etc) - this is a pretty big deal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pointyfootball Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 Will AM980 still broadcast the air traffic controllers "are watching over you and keeping you safe" commercials now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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