NTSB Asks FAA To Look Into Matter

Fatigue is near the top of concerns that busy pilots face daily -- and perhaps not just because of their own lack of sleep. Controllers watching the runways at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport may also be too tired... and the National Transportation Safety Board says that fatigue could lead to major lapses in judgment.

In a letter to the FAA, the NTSB has asked the agency to look into the possibility that a lack of sleep could have led to two March incidents at O'Hare.

"When asked about ORD (O'Hare) controllers' awareness of the need for adequate sleep, one supervisor stated that controllers did not discuss the issue much and were 'just used to being tired,'" John Clark, NTSB aviation safety director, said in the May 16 letter to FAA Chief Operating Officer Russell Chew.

As Aero-News reported, on March 21 a Lufthansa jet and a Delta aircraft were cleared to takeoff at the same time, on crossing runways. The aircraft came within 100 feet of each other before the flight crews caught on and aborted. The FAA called the incident the closest near-miss at a major US airport in years.

Clark says the controller who bungled the takeoff clearances was in training... and, had an untreated sleep disorder.

"The controller's sleep disorder could have had a negative impact on his cognitive performance and, according to his statements, the disorder was not being treated or monitored at the time of the incident," he wrote to the FAA.

Just two days after the March 21 incident, planes flying for United Airlines and its low-cost subsidiary Ted came within 600 feet of one another, as one plane was cleared to taxi across the runway the other aircraft was taking off from. The controller handling that event had just four hours of sleep, according to the NTSB, and told investigators he "was not as sharp as (he) could have been."

Craig Burzych, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association at O'Hare, said its up to controllers to know their limits... and when they should stay away from the tower.

"People will occasionally call in sick if they don't get a good night's sleep because they don't want to be put in a bad position," Burzych told the Associated Press.

The NTSB has recommended the FAA implement fatigue awareness training for controllers at O'Hare, in hopes of stemming the string of runway incursions that currently stands at four such incidents so far this year... with a fifth possible case under investigation.

"All I can say today is that we will analyze the issues that the NTSB team brought up in their report and consider the recommendations that they have made," FAA spokesman Tony Molinaro said Tuesday.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov, www.faa.gov