Pilots forced to land without ATC clearance (they (ATC) were asleep)

[markis10]

I have always wondered about the sense in having a sole person workplace during night shifts, even in SYD there are two ATCs on in the tower AFAIK.

Planes forced to land without guidance after air traffic controller allegedly falls asleep

March 25, 2011 - 7:38AM

US aviation authorities have suspended an air traffic controller suspected of falling asleep on the job and forcing two planes to land without guidance at Washington's Reagan National Airport.
The pilots of the American Airlines Boeing 737 flight from Miami and the United Airlines Airbus 320 from Chicago, carrying a total of 165 passengers and crew, tried frantically to contact the control tower, but to no avail.

Planes forced to land without guidance after air traffic controller allegedly falls asleep

 

[simongr]

Might want to change the title to without

 

[rwatts]

Might want to change the title to without

And perhaps clarify it was the ATC asleep - not the pilots

 

[ozmille]

Often I think it is best not to know what is going on between coughpit and ATC. When I was working at Brussels Airport we had a Northwest aircraft land one day. Funny thing is Northwest didn't fly to Brussels back then. The pilot thought he was touching down at Frankfurt. Apparently there had been a miscommunication between the coughpit and ATC and they had the wrong coordinates. Apparently the first words of the captain when they could see the airport was coughk that is not Frankfurt... For us it was interesting to see a new aircraft but the crew were fired.

Northwest 52 Brussels Incident — Civil Aviation Forum | Airliners.net

 

[markis10]

Might want to change the title to without

And perhaps clarify it was the ATC asleep - not the pilots

Fixed - note to self, have a coffee before posting first thing in the morning . Thanks.

Often I think it is best not to know what is going on between coughpit and ATC. When I was working at Brussels Airport we had a Northwest aircraft land one day. Funny thing is Northwest didn't fly to Brussels back then. The pilot thought he was touching down at Frankfurt. Apparently there had been a miscommunication between the coughpit and ATC and they had the wrong coordinates. Apparently the first words of the captain when they could see the airport was coughk that is not Frankfurt... For us it was interesting to see a new aircraft but the crew were fired.

Northwest 52 Brussels Incident — Civil Aviation Forum | Airliners.net

Wrong airports and wrong runways still do happen a lot, for a while there in the late eighties Garuda had a few attempts at landing at Essendon, and most of us would recall the terrible SQ TPE incident where a departure was attempted on the wrong runway.