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Tower At Reagan National Goes Silent As Planes Attempt To Land
he control tower at Reagan National Airport went silent early Wednesday, forcing two airliners carrying a total of 165 passengers and crew to land on their own. The tower did not respond to pilot requests for landing assistance or to phone calls from controllers elsewhere in the region, who also used a “shout line” which pipes into a loudspeaker in the tower, internal records show. (www.washingtonpost.com) Mehr...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
it sounds like somebody is in trouble at reagan international
As an air traffic controller, I'm surprised DCA doesn't have 2 controllers on the mid-shift. I work at a 24 hour tower and we're staffed with two controllers every night. I can see how this made the news, but at the same time, Potomac did exactly what they were supposed to do, treat it as an uncontrolled airport and use non-radar procedures. Good job Potomac TRACON; as for the controller working the Tower, not sure what happened there....
Looks like they may be talking about AAL1012 that arrived at 12:06am, and United 628. Previous to the American that landed at 12:06am, there was American 532 that landed at 11:43pm. It could be possible the ATC fell asleep, or went to use the restroom. I would think that if there is only one controller staffed, when is he to use the restroom is a "violent and urgent" feeling came upon him? Glad everyone landed safely (not that there would have been any issues that late at night looking at flightaware.com's Arrival and Departures.
makes none sense to me that there is only one controller staffed at that airport at that time of night. I've heard that Reagan is one of the busiest airports in the country, 24/7. Can you imagine what would happen to that ONE controller if something were to happen because aircraft couldn't reach anyone?
Check the updated version. LaHood ordered a second controller on the mid shift. Yes, it is AAL102. The did a go-round and landed at 12:33, after the United flight.
Make that AAL1012.