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Another air controller fired for sleeping on job
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Aviation Administration says a third air traffic controller has been fired for napping on the job. An email from the agency says the controller assigned to Boeing Field i . . . (flightaware.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
Oh boy...Here we go again (sigh).
I think these were the aftermaths of the suspensions done with the first round. I remember seeing the guy down at Knoxville TN got canned last week.
So....You put a man in a dark, quiet room and tell him to look out the windows with little else to do during the hours of midnight to six A.M., and expect him to stay alert and awake. Does anyone want to examine the human physiological element in this picture???
I'm thinking certain towers are trying harder to find this kinda thing just to show that they're "on the ball", not necessarily for safety reasons. Sort of a witch-hunt type of thing. The guy could have his eyes closed for a minute due to a headache or whatever, then he gets hit with a "sleeping on the job" accusation. Just a thought, it just seems that there's too many "found" doing this than normal.
This job description needs a 'power nap' element in it.
I see both sides of the story. On the one hand, the controllers should get adequate rest before work. If they have enough years experience to be in the tower, they should know what to expect. However too, I see the need to rework the crazy schedules they work and the lack of adequate personnel to staff the schedules. They are clearly overworked, but it's still no excuse for sleepping on the job.
You know, there is not a comment up here that hasn't got some validity to it. I think that there is going to have to be some middle ground found here somewhere between a sorry employee that can't stay awake and the power nap concept. Just as knowledge has turned up many things in the last few years that earlier generations just went on with, fatigue is coming to the forefront in many occupations and is going to have to be dealt with. The folks that are doing all this big talk are working 8-5 and going home and sleeping during the night, so they can't have that much understanding of the issue unless they have been there.