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U.S. Increases Rest Time For Air Controllers

By on April 18, 2011

U.S. Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood,  said required rest time for air traffic controllers will be increased to nine hours to make sure they don’t fall asleep on the job.

“We’re going to make sure that controllers are well rested,” said LaHood in an interview on Fox News Sunday  .

“We are doing everything we can 24-7 to correct the problem. We cannot allow controllers to fall asleep.”

According to Bloomber report,   LaHood  said schedules of controllers and their managers will be changed to make sure that they aren’t coming to work tired. Hank Krakowski, Chief Operating Officer of the Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates safety in the world’s busiest airspace, resigned April 14 after reports that controllers had been caught sleeping on the job this year.

The FAA suspended an air traffic controller Saturday  “for falling asleep while on duty during the midnight shift” at the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center in the latest reported incident. “The controller did not miss any calls from aircraft and there was no operational impact,” the FAA said.

New scheduling rules have been put in place and will be fully in effect by the end of the week, according to a statement posted on the FAA website  Sunday. Controllers will have a minimum of nine hours off between shifts and will no longer be able to swap shifts unless they have at least nine hours off in between, the statement said. Managers will also schedule their own shifts so as to ensure greater coverage in the early morning and late night hours.

“Controllers need to take personal responsibility for the very important safety jobs that they have,” LaHood said in the interview. “They are guiding planes in and out of airports and they have to be well rested. They have to take some personal responsibility for this.”

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association President Paul Rinaldi said he fully supports the steps taken by the FAA, in a statement posted on the association’s website  . He said he will start touring air traffic control facilities with FAA Administrator Randolph Babbitt .

“We will have direct conversations with controllers and continue our call to action to raise awareness, reinforce our professional standards and reaffirm our commitment to the safety of the system,” Rinaldi said in the statement.

Source : Thisday