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Home » American Airlines » Flight Lands Without Guidance in Washington, DC While ATC Sleeps
American AirlinesNewsUnited Airlines

Flight Lands Without Guidance in Washington, DC While ATC Sleeps

Matthew Klint Posted onMarch 24, 2011 2 Comments

Isn’t it a comforting thought that air traffic controllers at major airports sleep on the job? It is not the first time this has happened and I know it won’t be the last, but it is always newsworthy when it does occur.

Earlier today, just after midnight, two flights were approaching Washington National Airport. One was an American Airlines flight and the other was a United A320 from Chicago. The AA flight attempted to receive final landing instructions from the ATC but there was no response from the tower. After aborting the first landing, the aircraft landed without guidance. The UA A320 landed shortly thereafter.

No harm, no foul or are you crying foul? Air traffic controllers work long and hard hours, but they are paid handsomely for their work and I have no pity for someone, even if not deliberate, who falls asleep on the job. I would make it very clear to the controller that if something like this ever happens again, s/he will be terminated immediately. And whose bright idea was it to only have one peson in the control tower at a time?

Thankfully, no one was hurt.

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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2 Comments

  1. Sean Reply
    March 24, 2011 at 7:19 pm

    They must have been a heavy sleeper to sleep through radio calls, a landline phone ringing and a loudspeaker going off. Maybe there’s some truth to the alternate theory that they got locked out of the control room using the restroom?

  2. BostonFlyer Reply
    March 24, 2011 at 7:26 pm

    The first persons fired should be the boss and the schedule maker for only putting on ATC person where is the redundancy? What if this person had to go use bathroom break or god forbid something bad happens to them. Also would be interested in how long this person had been working for. I wonder if ATC should be privatized with the airports themselves deciding who they select.

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