Air Traffic Controller Suspended for Watching Movie on the Job

In what has become the latest in a string of ATC infractions, the FAA has suspended an air traffic controller and manager after the controller was caught using a portable DVD player while on duty at Cleveland Air Route Traffic Control Center early Sunday morning.

According to a statement released by the FAA, the controller was working a radar position when the controller’s microphone unintentionally activated, picking up and transmitting a movie soundtrack for more than three minutes over the active radio frequency for that airspace. A military pilot alerted the ATC center of the problem by transmitting on an alternate frequency.

The incident comes just days after numerous reports of controllers sleeping on the job forced the head of the FAA’s ATC, Hank Krakowski, to resign.

In light of the recent problems, FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt and National Air Traffic Controllers Association president Paul Rinaldi have initiated a “Call to Action,” in which they are visiting ATC centers across the United States in an attempt to discuss safety issues and promote professionalism.

In a press release issued last week, Babbitt said, “we are conducting a top to bottom review of the way we operate our air traffic control system.” They began their tour in Atlanta on Monday and will be visiting additional ATC centers in other U.S. cities throughout the week.

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Submitted by lougregoire on April 22, 2011.

The movie watching episode is unacceptable. The falling asleep issue is another thing altogether. I am a police officer, and I have many friends who work in departments that insist on a schedule where the officer changes shifts all the time. This has been studied to exhaustion, and virtually every study shows that officers who work the same shift for long periods (6months to a year) adapt to their shifts better, sleep more, and are better able to do their jobs.
The FAA should, instead of wasting time and money doing the "top to bottom review" crap, just give those guys and gals one shift to work for a year at a time. All this stuff would go away. It isn't rocket science. Try working day, evening and morning shifts in the same pay period, and you are end up deprived of any decent rest.
How in the world does the simplicity of all this escape supposedly educated people?

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Submitted by Captain Ray on April 22, 2011.

I see this case and the type of addiction mostly prevalent in the USA's tech savvy crowd: video addict. Remember the bus driver caught on video reading his Kindle machine while drivin a public bus? Same behavior as addiction can be defined as a continued action regardless of how bad the consequences. These individuals, as lots of people I see, mostly women, driving around at high speeds with a phone attached to their ears!! Consequences be dammned these low resistance people will be the first one to call on the police when there is an accident for help but curse the same police for giving them a citation for the same action. As I understand it, the problem may not be just the one hand on the wheel (women for the most do not use turn signals properly or not at all and probably in the same ration, ignore the speedometer which is useless you notice the posted speed limit signs) but the amount of brain power being deflected from the complicated task of driving and navigation a vehicle on our streets and highways. After all, we all know why two pilots are better than one when both are actively watching and operating the aircraft.. Key word here is "actively."