Sleep-deprived US air controllers a growing safety issue
The deadly Comair crash last year and other close calls show the need for stepped up safety vigilance, including the need for air traffic controllers to get more rest, according to US safety investigators.
“Controllers are sometimes operating in a state of fatigue because of their work schedules and poorly managed utilization of their rest periods between shifts, and that fatigue has contributed to controller errors,” Mark Rosenker, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, wrote in a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The safety board said nearly two-thirds of controllers work shifts with start times that progressively get earlier and change too fast to allow for proper rest.
Rapid rotation and short rest periods are likely reasons why controllers report sleeping an average of just 6.5 hours before day shifts and 2.3 hours before midnight shifts, according to Mr Rosenker.
Investigators pointed to the August Comair crash in Lexington, Kentucky, that killed 49 people, and close calls in Chicago, Los Angeles, Denver and Seattle from 2001 to 2006 to illustrate their concerns.
The Kentucky crash remains under investigation by the safety board.
Much of the attention has fallen on the crew’s use of the wrong runway — an unlighted one that was too short to accommodate the 50-seat regional jet.
The controller on duty at the time of the crash said his only sleep between the two shifts was a two-hour nap.
“Such limited sleep can degrade alertness, vigilance and judgment,” Mr Rosenker said.
In the investigation of a near-miss between a Boeing 737 and an Airbus A320 at Chicago O’Hare in March 2006, the safety board determined the controller at the center of the review had only slept about four hours between shifts.
The board recommended the FAA revise scheduling policies and, in response to a second series of close calls, provide safety awareness training.
“We expect when controllers have rest periods that they will take advantage of that time to sleep and will be adequately rested when they report to work,” said FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown.
The controllers’ union, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, acknowledged many have difficult shifts and some prefer varying schedules, according to Reuters.
“The union and the agency have clashed over staffing,” the news service said.
The FAA says the air traffic system is adequately staffed.
Report by David Wilkening
David
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