Posted on 08/29/2006 2:25:43 PM PDT by RDTF
FAA acknowledges it violated staffing policies with only one air traffic controller on duty at airport when Comair jet crashed Sunday, killing 49 people.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Yup, somebody has to assure proper movement of the aircraft on the ground. This was a disaster waiting to happen........and it did. Blood thirsty plaintiffs lawyers circling!!!!!!
I was a controller in the Marine Corps; told my wife it was VERY unusual for this to be human error, it looks like the controller and pilot really messed up. Having one controller in a small airport is not unusual but I would not think Louisville is a small airport.
It's Lexington. And it is a relatively small airport.
I would too. This was indeed gross negligence on the part of the FAA and they need to be spanked. I only hope Kentucky law prohibits solicitation by some bad firms preying on people at their worst time.
Can you sue the feds for damages though? They'd have better luck getting money from ComAir/Delta.
I'm just curious. What would another controller have to do with this.
Would he not have just repeated what controller A did. You are cleared on runway 26 for takeoff. I blame the pilot for NOT knowing he was on the wrong runway.
I don't think the other controller would have been much use but if it's a rule, I agree there should have been another on duty. But why?
Second pair of eyes to make a visual.
maybe would have seen that the pilot was on the wrong runway...
How do you figure? What if the tower was unable to see the aircraft due to fog? The pilot is responsible.
My brother is an ATC, and I asked him how this could happen. He said the ATC and the pilot should have not made this mistake. Very sad story.
susie
There's a ridiculously simple procedure that would cost nothing and prevent an accident like this:
Currently, the pilot is required to read back departure instructions. That helps guarantee that the pilot heard the controller correctly. That doesn't help prevent the pilot from going to the wrong runway anyway.
That can be prevented by requiring a readback from the pilot not flying the plane of the compass heading once the aircraft has taken position at the end of the runway. If the compass reading divided by 10 is not equal to the runway number you were given, you don't move.
Simple as that.
Can you say, "Ten billion dollar multi-party lawsuit lasting 30 years"? I knew you could.
Ping
Contract?
I think most people assume ATC is there for more than just lip service...even if a pilot is ultimately responsible, doesn't the tower have a responsiblity to make sure the pilot understands the directions?
I guess the box will reveal whether that procedure took place
There were lots of comments over on www.airliners.net on Sunday - a lot of them from professional and amateur pilots - and among them several comments that it would be very easy to make the mistake of using runway 26 rather than 22 at Louisville.
*Some even implied that had nearly made that exact same mistake at that same airport.*
Here's the fourth of the four threads on the topic:
http://www.airliners.net/discussions/general_aviation/read.main/2960026/
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