By Dhruti Patel
<[email protected]>

Recently, the Federal Aviation Administration, or the FAA, has fired three air traffic controllers for falling asleep more than twice on the job. This has not been a sudden occurrence, as many similar incidents have been reported across the nation, according to an April 26 article on CNN.com. In response to these occurrences, the FAA has introduced new guidelines for its air traffic controllers, including a requirement of nine hours between shifts and restricting the scheduling of midnight shifts following a day off. There have also been talks of implementing a new system, called NextGen, which is satellite-based rather than ground-based, and will be a big improvement on the current technology, according to the FAA.

Though improvements with technology are cause for celebration, I would hold off on printing a “Air Traffic Control Problem Fixed” banner for now. With Americans already reluctant to travel due to the threat of terrorism and other safety precautions, the FAA needs to consider stricter guidelines on its employees before spending money on NextGen, especially since sleeping on the job is a recurring problem.

September 11, 2001 was a tragic and life-changing day for many Americans. In addition to the numerous lives lost, Americans across the country began to take a second look at traveling abroad and how safe it actually is. All of a sudden, the nation became aware of the threat that might be present through traveling and the false sense of security that our nation was under was removed. According to the International Foundation for Protection Officers, or the IFPO, by November 2001, former President George W. Bush provided $20 billion to maintain high security standards for traveling, and by the following year, the Transportation Security Administration, or the TSA, was formed under the Homeland Security department. Americans were also required for the first time to provide passports to travel to Mexico and Canada, resulting in a decrease of travel outside of the United States.

The FAA is clearly not taking these hazardous problems seriously, which is something that is unacceptable due to the risk it presents to travelers. Air traffic controllers are the basis of what coordinates airplanes and makes sure they have room and time to land and take off. Even with the implementation of new guidelines, this problem is still around today. In my opinion, increasing supervision is the only way to fix this issue. Air traffic controllers need to have more authority present so they have no inclination whatsoever to fall asleep on the job.

Although improvements in technology would make this process more efficient, it still will not fix the problem of air traffic controllers napping. The FAA needs to start taking this issue more seriously, as the next time there might be more damage done than an employee losing his job.