Controllers sleeping

Here's a tease for an article I'm working on. It's on the PlayAway PowerNap.

Over the past few months there have been numerous incidents of Air Traffic Controllers falling asleep while on duty. I have an in-depth understanding of this “problem” since I worked as a tower ATCS for 36 years before I retired and became a full-time editor. For many of those years I worked the dreaded Rattler shifts (2 evening shifts, 2 day shifts and an over-night shift followed by 80 consecutive hours off). It was perfect for a father with kids involved in school activities and sports. How did I do it, you ask? Simple, I slept on the mids!

At the vast majority of airports in the US there is very little traffic between midnight and 6AM every day. Most airports have strict noise abatement procedures to severely restrict how many flights are allowed because of concerns for nearby residents getting their sleep. What this means is that you have controllers who are expected to sit in a chair looking out the windows with absolutely nothing to do for 6 hours every night. Nope, no distractions, no reading books or magazines, no TVs or radios, nothing but staring out a window. Could you survive if that’s what your job was like?

Here’s what really happens. Controllers on the mids will either split their shift in half if there are two assigned to the shift. One controller takes a “break” and naps somewhere while the other one works whatever traffic there is. The then swap at about 3AM and reverse positions. When I was a controller the people who regularly worked mids kept a pillow, blanket and alarm clock in their lockers!

If there is only one controller on duty they set up the tower chairs as best as possible to be able to lie down (most towers had one chair that didn’t have any arms to serve as the middle of the “bed”). You turn all of the speakers up real loud so that any radio or landline calls wake you up so you can respond. Is it dangerous? Sure, you can fall out of a chair easily! Is it dangerous for the flying public? NO it is not!!

Instead of firing controllers for doing something that does no harm to anyone why not work out procedures and schedules with reality built in. It’s truly cutting off your nose to spite your face. It takes years to train a good controller, don’t waste them unnecessarily.