(August 2011) When the Brouhaha erupted over air traffic controllers dozing off on duty I couldn’t help wondering if it’s really important to have humans manning control towers at all hours of the day and night, even at places like Reno and Dulles. Do people have any idea how many airports routinely and safely accommodate a mix of air carrier, corporate, military, and small and large general aviation airplanes without a control tower? Or how many others have towers with reasonably intelligent beings on duty only during days and early evenings, closing up shop after 10 or 11 at night? Is safety really the issue or is this just the latest knee-jerk reaction to something the media got its teeth into? FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt immediately announced his outrage but, c’mon, controller fatigue isn’t “news” to the agency. NATCA, the controllers union, has battled over more staffing for years, with FAA management countering that it can’t afford, nor is there a need for, more air traffic controllers. It kinda makes me wonder if all that money Congress allocated in the last decade for more FSDO inspectors (my old office went from 22 to 85 in the five years since I retired … and, no, it wasn’t because I was that hard to replace) would have been better spent on air traffic controllers.
Maybe we’d get more bang for our buck with “controller monitor specialists” — you know, like GS-3 nannies with training in sleep deprivation techniques to keep the real controllers awake. Heck, these low-cost, low-tech jobs would be perfect for TSA or Flight Service Station dropouts, and a bargain for taxpayers. The job description would read “Position requires experience and proficiency in a variety of board games to include Monopoly and Scrabble, a working knowledge of gin rummy and old maid, and the ability to brew really thick, high-test coffee. Preference to high-school (or equivalent) graduates, minorities, women, disabled persons, veterans and those with an extensive repertoire of limericks and politically correct jokes.”
