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Las Vegas airport controller heard slurring her words as alarmed pilots respond
LAS VEGAS -- Federal and airport authorities are investigating why an air traffic controller became incapacitated and went silent while working a night shift alone in the tower at busy McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. CBS News correspondent Kris Van Cleave reports that in air traffic audio of the incident, the controller appeared to become incoherent and eventually unresponsive until she was discovered by another controller returning from a break. (www.cbsnews.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
that was rather odd, and rather scary. I hope that controller's ok, and grateful all the pilots who were on the air during this incident held their cool, not knowing what the HELL was going on in the tower, for nearly 20 minutes.
according to some people on twitter, she had a stroke. i don't know if that's true but once the FBI releases their report it will probably tell what happened.
Listening to the audio it sounded like a stroke in progress more than someone drunk.
I was thinking an epileptic seizure. That's what it sounded like to me from the sounds over the mic. But the bottom line is no major airport should have only one controller on if there are any planes landing or leaving no matter what time it is. Good work by the pilots in following flashing yellow light rules.
An ‘uncontrolled’ airport is a pilot controlled airport. Hard to make that call when you know there is a controller on duty. I thought that Alaska 608 should have declared a missed approached because I never heard valid landing clearance. We used to joke when getting our controller 2nd class physicals, that they would just shove us out of the way if we went down. This is a good reminder those physicals (akin to what an airline transport pilot receives) were there for a reason.
Looks like she is no longer with the FAA.