Willow Run Airport to get additional air traffic controller as FAA responds to national incidents
The Federal Aviation Administration said today that it would add an overnight air traffic controller to Ypsilanti's Willow Run Airport, part of a plan to boost overnight operations at 27 airports nationwide.
The move is a response to recent incidents in which air traffic controllers fell asleep or were not properly responsive to incoming planes.
Willow Run Airport's control tower will get an additional controller for its overnight shift.
File photo | AnnArbor.com
Willow Run Airport has not had any similar incidents, but the airport was operating with just one air traffic controller on the midnight shift.
"Instead of one controller overnight there will be two," said Tony Molinaro, a spokesman in the FAA's Great Lakes public affairs office. "We’re changing the schedule so that another one will be scheduled overnight."
The move is designed to ensure the safety of incoming and outgoing flights at the airport, which handles cargo traffic and charter planes.
It's also a win for the Wayne County Airport Authority, which operates Willow Run Airport and had been trying to convince the FAA not to shut down its overnight operations here.
Willow Run Airport, which is located next to the shuttered former General Motors transmission manufacturing plant, is a key piece of the regional "Aerotropolis" initiative, which seeks to generate jobs by attracting shipping companies to set up operations near local airports.
"We’ve been talking for quite a while with our congressional delegation and the FAA to try to staff up Willow Run," said Scott Wintner, a Wayne County Airport Authority spokesman. "Up until these high-profile incidents, the question was, does Willow Run even need a controller overnight? The answer was yes."
In the latest air traffic control incident, a controller at Reno-Tahoe International Airport this morning "fell asleep while a medical flight carrying an ill patient was trying to land," the FAA said. The plane landed safely, but the controller was suspended.
In other recent incidents, air traffic controllers fell asleep in Seattle and Washington D.C., according to Reuters.
"I am totally outraged by these incidents. This is absolutely unacceptable," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said today in a statement. "The American public trusts us to run a safe system. Safety is our number one priority and I am committed to working 24/7 until these problems are corrected."
Wayne County Airport Authority reported that cargo traffic at Willow Run Airport and Detroit Metro Airport increased 12.6 percent year-over-year in February to 35.4 million pounds. Willow Run Airport handles about 200 million pounds of cargo annually.
The FAA operates air traffic control towers independently of airports.
Contact AnnArbor.com's Nathan Bomey at (734) 623-2587 or nathanbomey@annarbor.com. You can also follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's newsletters.
Comments
ATC Don
Fri, Apr 15, 2011 : 5:15 a.m.
As a controller, there a couple things to understand. You can't just replace a controller. Being a controller takes a special skill set. You can't just fire a controller without spending thousands upon thousands of dollars to replace him/her. It's much more cost effective to simply rework the schedule so that there is a second controller on the mid-shifts. This just goes to highlight a problem that is only going to get worse in the next 2-4 years as 30% of the controller workforce is going to be retiring and there hasn't been sufficient hiring to replace those controllers. I understand the need to reduce the budget deficit. As has already been stated, ATC is not the area to do it. You can't reduce the amount of controllers and then expect them provide the same level of safety that is our goal every day. That being said, the best idea I've probably heard yet is if a tower only has 4 or 5 planes landing there at night, just close the tower at night and move the one employee to the day shift. At that point, there really is no need for the tower to be open and a controller be there.
Bill
Thu, Apr 14, 2011 : 9:25 p.m.
As one who worked straight midnights alone for a year and then 17 years of (ugh!) rotating shifts always with at least one other person, I can say that it is totally unrealistic to expect a human being to stay awake all night by oneself. Proper sleep is not automatic when you're on midnights. When I went on to mids, the first night or two maybe I could skate through but it always caught up with you by the third one. The second person kept you going. It was especially helpful if we didn't both start midnights on the same night. Then after your five or six mids, go back to day shift next week. The whole world seems like it's in fast motion for three days. For people who have only worked days, it is as hard to explain this as expecting someone who has only had first year high school algebra to walk into the middle of calculus class and understand what's going on. And the occassional all nighter in college is NOT the same. That was just for one night and we were twenty then. To get the feel of it, especially folks in their 30s, 40s, and 50s, try this. For one week, work your day job, try to go to sleep as soon as you get home, and then stay up from midnight to 8 am. Oh sure, you might make it through the first night if you're lucky. But do a whole week of it and see how you're doing at work during the day. This will give you an approximate idea of what it's like. Or try this on a two week vacation. See how your stomach responds without prescription drugs. And see how your spouse and family respond. People are not robots or computers. They do not automatically stay awake all night alone. This is something that any decent manager of night workers should know and putting people alone on midnights is asking for trouble.
Basic Bob
Thu, Apr 14, 2011 : 3:03 p.m.
This is a common sense. Air traffic controllers should not be working alone any more than pilots. At any time of day that is unsafe. They should either keep two people on duty or close the tower for the night. Mike, congress had nothing to do with this, the FAA made the decision. And the untold number of controllers is actually 27.
packman
Thu, Apr 14, 2011 : 2:29 p.m.
Here's a good link to comments on the topic. Tells it better than I can. <a href="http://www.avweb.com/blogs/insider/AVwebInsider_MoreMoneyLessSnooze_204489-1.html" rel='nofollow'>http://www.avweb.com/blogs/insider/AVwebInsider_MoreMoneyLessSnooze_204489-1.html</a>
H.
Thu, Apr 14, 2011 : 11:32 a.m.
Although there is truth in what you say Bob, who is to say that both guys will not be sleeping at the same time, bring us back to square root one? Therein lays the problem. What protocols are being implemented to ensure this plausible outcome doesn't occur? People do not trust big (or at time little) government because the perception is they do not deal with the root of the issue, they just toss money at the problem.
Bob Krzewinski
Thu, Apr 14, 2011 : 3:03 a.m.
As a 27 year airline Captain, and with some good friends that are air traffic controllers, just "firing the guy who fell asleep and replacing him with someone who gets a good night sleep" really does not get at the heart of the problem. Controllers very often work rotating shifts, where fatigue is a major problem. How would you like to work a day shift, go home for a little over 8 hours, then come back at midnight to do a full shift? Think you would be 100% alert all night long? So while "Adding untold numbers of controllers seems like a collosal waste of taxpayer dollars" to some people, if you want safe skys, you are going to have to add more controllers. After all, a control tower isn't a place where you can cut staffing down to absolute minimums without problems.
Mike
Wed, Apr 13, 2011 : 10:58 p.m.
Wonder why we have such a huge budget deficit? The answer to an problem at the government level is to throw money at it. The system has redundancies built in as the most recent incident shows. How about firing the guy who fell asleep (probbaly would be tough with union rules) and replacing him with someone who gets a good night sleep. Adding untold numbers of controllers seems like a collosal waste of taxpayer dollars. Hire someone who can do the job and fire those who can't. Better yet convene a blue ribbon panel to study the problem at a cost of miilions of dollars then spent millions more to hire two people to do the job of one. I'm sick and tired of politicians spending like drunken sailors. Is it just me?