Reagan Airport Gets Second Controller on Sleep Concerns

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport will get a second nighttime air-traffic controller after two flights had to land unaided, possibly because the lone person on duty was asleep. That controller was suspended.

“It is not acceptable to have just one controller in the tower managing air traffic in this critical air space,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. He also asked the Federal Aviation Administration to study staffing levels at other airports around the country.