When Air Traffic Controllers Oversleep

Travel Blog  •  Joanna Kakissis  •  10.02.08 | 10:45 AM ET

imageTwo planes had to circle the Greek island of Lesvos for more than 30 minutes earlier this week because no one was at the airport control tower. The controller supposed to be on duty reportedly overslept, according to Reuters. The report prompted one Reuters reader to crack that “given how controllers are overworked these days, though, that might be the only time in the past year she’s had eight hours of sleep.” Scared? I am.

Photo by jefield via Flickr (Creative Commons).

Tags: Air Travel, Travel and Security, Europe, Greece, News and Briefs

Joanna Kakissis's writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe and The Washington Post, among other publications. A contributor to the World Hum blog, she's currently a Ted Scripps fellow in environmental journalism at the University of Colorado in Boulder.


3 Comments for When Air Traffic Controllers Oversleep

Terry Ward 10.02.08 | 12:05 PM ET

I’ve been talking to US air traffic controllers this week for a story, and they are not a happy bunch. Their pay has been cut by the FAA or frozen against raises in the past two years, and almost all are being forced to work mandatory overtime. A huge retirement rate is flooding the industry with trainees (an FAA spokesman told me they’re adding 17,000 new controllers to the work force over the next decade - there are currently about 15,000). The FAA is saying it’s all good and our system is the model for the rest of the world, but the general consensus among the controllers I’ve talked to seems to be that it’s not a question of if, but when.

robert basler 10.02.08 | 6:23 PM ET

Hey, thanks for linking to my Oddly Enough blog. Come back often and bring your friends…

bests,
Bob Basler

stefania 10.04.08 | 12:34 PM ET

Isn’t this site supposed to offer something different than regurgitated news? I can see this story anywhere. Again, Ho Hum.

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