March 24 at 6:21 a.m.
Filed under:
Airlines,
Airports
By Dow Jones Newswires-Wall Street Journal
The air traffic tower at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington. (Karen Bleier/Getty)
Federal air-safety officials are looking into why the lone air-traffic controller on duty at Washington’s Reagan National Airport early Wednesday repeatedly failed to respond to pilots of two approaching aircraft, forcing both jetliners to land without clearance.
Pilots of an American Airlines jet on final approach tried in vain to contact the tower. A few minutes later, a United Airlines jet, en route from Chicago, experienced the same problem, according to federal air-safety officials. Get the full story »
Feb. 11 at 6:10 a.m.
Filed under:
Airports,
Travel
By Associated Press
Inside the air-traffic control tower at LaGuardia Airport. (EPA/Andrew Gombert)
In a time of unparalleled aviation safety in the United States, reports of mistakes by air traffic controllers have nearly doubled — a seeming contradiction that has safety experts puzzled.
The latest incident — the near midair collision of an American Airlines jet with 259 people aboard and two Air Force transport planes southeast of New York City, has raised eyebrows in Congress and led to questions about a nonpunitive culture of error reporting in air-traffic control facilities. Get the full story »
