Washington – The Federal Aviation Administration says it is trying to fire an air traffic controller in Knoxville, Tenn., who deliberately went to sleep on the job.
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The FAA said in a statement Wednesday that the controller was found sleeping during his midnight shift at McGhee Tyson Airport on Feb. 19.
The airport is considered an “up-down facility,” meaning it has a control tower and a radar room each staffed on separate floors with one controller during the midnight shift.
FAA said that in this case the one controller working in the tower landed seven planes and worked the radar position as well while the other controller slept.
Safety officials are also investigating in an incident in which a controller at Washington’s Reagan National Airport fell asleep while planes landed.
why do they have only one controller at night?