LaHood Vows to Stop Air Traffic Controller Napping.
Good luck with that.
There is nothing more mind-numbingly boring than sitting in a dark room in the middle of the night, looking out the windows and not having anything to do. Saying "we'll increase the time between shifts from eight hours to nine" is just eyewash. There was a damned good reason why the Navy required everyone standing a bridge watch to actually stand up. The only chairs on the bridges were for the CO and the XO.* I can tell you, from personal experience, that if you are really tired enough, you can fall asleep standing up as long as you have something to lean against.
If things are so slow at those towers, the FAA should close them overnight. For one or two flights an hour, the jet pilots can land and take off without any hand-holding from the controllers.
Anyway, I'm traveling this week, so I won't be posting very often.
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* I took a tour of a FFG-7 in the `90s; the ship had chairs for the bridgewatch. Life is tough for those gas-turbine pansies.
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2 comments:
Having flown into my share of airports at night I can say sometimes things run smoother without the controller.
People don't understand the tower controller controls the airport, the pilot still flies the plane and ultimately responsible for everything that happens from engine startup to shutdown.
I've never seen a tower crash yet!
Eck!
> "There is nothing more mind-numbingly boring than sitting in a dark room in the middle of the night, looking out the windows and not having anything to do."
Yes there is—sitting in a dark room in the middle of the night, without any windows to look out of and not having anything to do.
People don't realize that there are far more controllers on the midshift at ARTCCs and TRACONs which have no windows.
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