Welcome review of air traffic control
When we board an airplane, we have faith our flight will be safe. We trust that the plane is mechanically sound. And that the pilot is experienced and well-trained.
We also presume that air traffic controllers can guide the plane through crowded skies and bad weather so that takeoff and landing goes off without a hitch. Yet there is troubling evidence that this might not always be a safe assumption.
Last month, an air traffic controller from the FAA's Chicago Center radar facility in Aurora mistakenly directed a passenger plane to descend in the path of a jet heading to O'Hare International Airport, according to the Associated Press. A mid-air collision was averted.
In January we reported that two jets -- one bound for O'Hare and another heading to Denver -- came dangerously close to one another in the skies over Iowa. And earlier this month, the U.S. General Accountability Office reported that O'Hare had the second highest number of near-collisions on runways of any airport between 2001 and 2006.
Air traffic controllers say they are overworked, understaffed and, in the January incident, were distracted in testing new equipment they weren't certified to have been using.
The FAA says it is doing all it can to minimize air traffic controller fatigue.
Airline passengers would sure like to know whom to believe - and that any problems in guiding flights are being resolved.
The FAA and air traffic controllers should be working amiably toward a solution. But U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin has the next best idea. He has asked the U.S. Department of Transportation to look into air traffic control staffing and controller fatigue at Chicago-area facilities. Durbin said his call for an investigation was prompted by complaints from air traffic controllers of less than ideal work conditions.
This investigation will prove to be valuable if it offers an assessment that can be trusted to be independent and objective in providing information that can help resolve differences between the FAA and air traffic controllers. And if it leads to a plan that assures airline passengers that any problems in air traffic control can and will be solved.
It is also important to keep this issue in perspective. Certainly the GAO report is disturbing. But keep in mind near misses can also be caused by pilot error, not air traffic control errors. And in June we reported that the Federal Aviation Administration found fewer controller errors and near collisions at O'Hare through the first half of 2007 in comparison to 2006.
A new radar system slated for O'Hare should also improve tracking jets that are on the ground.
The air traffic control system is not on the verge of collapsing. But continued near misses and reports of fatigue in the air traffic control tower necessitate the kind of review Durbin is seeking. When it's done, it will hopefully bring about any changes that may be needed in managing air space that controllers, the FAA and passengers can trust.