Air Traffic Control

Air traffic controllers will be required to take at least nine hours off between shifts — one more hour than the current practice — and supervisors will work more overnight hours under new rules announced Sunday. Controllers will not be permitted to lengthen their weekends by swapping shifts if that could put them on unscheduled midnight duty or deprive them of enough rest, Federal Aviation Administration officials said in a statement. Managers also will be required to schedule their shifts to encourage greater coverage in the early-morning and late-night hours.

Federal officials moved Saturday to address the problem of air traffic controller fatigue and announced they would adjust workers' schedules after another controller fell asleep on duty, this time at a center handling high-altitude air traffic near Miami. The latest incident came to light when one controller reported that a co-worker was asleep on duty Saturday. A preliminary review showed that the sleeping controller did not miss any calls from pilots. But the incident — the seventh reported to the Federal Aviation Administration this year — highlighted the urgency of the issue.

The Federal Aviation Administration launched a review of the nation's air traffic system after a top agency official resigned Thursday because controllers fell asleep on the job. The resignation of Henry Krakowski, who was responsible for operations, planning and maintenance of the air traffic control system, comes after a series of high-profile embarrassments in several states and Washington, D.C., where controllers have fallen asleep while working...

The nation's top manager of airplane traffic resigned after several incidents in which air traffic controllers fell asleep at their posts, the Federal Aviation Administration announced Thursday morning. The agency, which oversees the nation's civilian aviation system, announced in a posting on its website that FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt had accepted the resignation of Hank Krakowski, head of the agency's Air Traffic Organization. In recent weeks, several incidents of air traffic controllers being asleep at the job have been reported around the nation.

The Federal Aviation Administration official in charge of operating the air traffic control system has resigned amid revelations that several controllers have fallen asleep on the job this year, the FAA chief said Thursday Stepping down is Hank Krakowski, who has been the head of the FAA Air Traffic Organization. David Grizzle, the FAA's chief counsel, will be the acting chief of the unit during a search to fill the post, according to Randy Babbitt, the agency's administrator. The development came after another air traffic controller apparently fell asleep while on duty, the sixth such incident this year that the FAA has disclosed.

An air traffic controller who failed to respond to two incoming planes at Ronald Reagan National Airport has been suspended, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Earlier today, officials said that the airport would increase staffing after the lone air traffic controller on duty apparently fell asleep. Two passenger planes -- an American Airlines flight and a United Airlines flight -- approaching the Washington D.C.-area airport were unable to raise the airport tower by radio Tuesday night.

Reacting to the concerns of air traffic controllers, Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl said Tuesday that he wants a council committee to monitor the efforts to resolve any safety issues that might arise from the new design of the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX. Rosendahl presented a motion at the City Council meeting, requesting that Los Angeles World Airports report to the Trade, Commerce and Tourism Committee, which oversees...

A multistory centerpiece of the modernization plan for Los Angeles International Airport would block the direct view of air traffic controllers for a busy portion of the complex, including gates, aircraft ramps and taxiways, officials acknowledge. According to the Federal Aviation Administration and air traffic controllers, the blind spots would be created by the $1.5-billion remodeling of the Tom Bradley International Terminal. The project would dominate the west end of the terminal area and have a roof line ranging from five to nine stories high.

A Cuban airliner with at least 68 people aboard crashed Thursday during a flight, state television said, and initial reports did not indicate whether there were survivors. The passengers included 28 foreigners, reports said. The Cuban-owned Aero Caribbean twin turboprop aircraft declared an emergency and then lost contact with air traffic controllers, the correspondent for Mexico's news agency Notimex said. As Tropical Storm Tomas menaced Cuba offshore, the Aero Caribbean flight departed Santiago de Cuba in the eastern part of the island late Thursday afternoon and was making its way to the capital, Havana, about 450 miles away.