FAA Announces Controller Scheduling Changes

April 17, 2011— -- Changes to air traffic controller scheduling that will allow for more time for rest between shifts were announced on Sunday by Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Randy Babbitt.

These changes come after another air traffic controller fell asleep on the job -- the fifth time since early March.

"We expect controllers to come to work rested and ready to work and take personal responsibility for safety in the control towers. We have zero tolerance for sleeping on the job," said Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood. "Safety is our top priority and we will continue to make whatever changes are necessary."

Among the changes, controllers will now have a minimum of nine hours off between shifts, and they will no longer be able to switch to an unscheduled midnight shift following a day off. Additionally, FAA managers will schedule their own shifts in a way to optimize coverage in the early morning and late night hours.

The most recent incident of a controller asleep on the job occurred during the midnight shift in Miami, Fla. did not cause any harm, and the controller was working alongside others, but it was considered the final straw in the string of incidents since March.

The Federal Aviation Administration acknowledge that there is a widespread problem with fatigue among controllers and that the organization must institute changes in work schedules.

"We are taking important steps today that will make a real difference in fighting air traffic controller fatigue. But we know we will need to do more. This is just the beginning," FAA Administrator Babbitt said before Sunday's announcement.

In total there have now been at least seven incidents since the start of the year in which a controller is believed to have fallen asleep on the job on the midnight shift. One case occurred earlier this week in Reno when a controller missed a radio call from a plane carrying a seriously ill passenger.

Though other controllers attempted to help, the pilot ultimately had to land the plane by himself.

Air Traffic Controllers Sleeping on the Job: A Problem of Scheduling

Controllers often bounce from morning shifts, to afternoon, to night shifts, leaving little time for the body to adjust. Fatigue experts like Philip Gehrman, director of the Behavior Sleep Program at the University of Pennsylvania, said it is crucial that their shifts remain more constant.

"It would be nice if there were a greater appreciation that our bodies have a limit -- we're not equally able to function at all hours of a 24-hour day," Gehrman said.

Babbitt and Paul Rinaldi, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, are scheduled to visit air traffic control facilities starting in Atlanta on Monday for a "Call to Action" to hear what controllers have to say, to remind them that sleeping on the job won't be tolerated, and to develop a fatigue education program to teach controllers the risks of fatigue and how to avoid it.

Though napping on duty is strictly forbidden, the AP reported that current and former controllers admitted that sleeping on the midnight shift is an open secret.

"It has always been a problem," said Rick Perl, who at one time was an instructor at FAA's academy for new controllers in Oklahoma City, Okla.

"There is no way you can get off at 2 p.m. in the afternoon and be back at 10 p.m. at night and get decent sleep."

According to a fatigue study by FAA and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, scheduling of air traffic controllers often does not give them time to adjust to any one set of waking and sleeping hours.

Often they will work a week of midnight shifts, then a week of morning shifts, then a week of swing shifts beginning in the afternoon -- such changes can take an exhausting toll on the body and mind. The chief in charge of the study recommends controllers be allowed sleeping breaks of as long as 2.5 hours during midnight shifts.

"Research shows us that giving people the chance for even an additional one hour of rest during critical periods in a schedule can improve work performance and reduce the potential for fatigue," said Babbitt in a statement Sunday. "Taking advantage of the time you have to rest is also a professional responsibility."