Man, it’s been a long week…so tired…can’t…stay…awake…<\/p>\n
(Eyes close.\u00a0 Head nods.\u00a0 20 minutes goes by…)<\/p>\n
OK, we’re back!\u00a0 Raring to go.\u00a0 But honestly, we’re worried.\u00a0 About air traffic control.\u00a0 All these controllers falling asleep on the job.\u00a0 Planes are going to run into each other, people are going to get hurt.\u00a0 And it’s not surprising.\u00a0 Who can blame a person for falling asleep on the overnight shift?\u00a0 Or if they are working the dreaded “rattler,” working two day shifts, two night shifts, and one overnight shift in the same week? It’s no wonder they are nodding off.<\/p>\n
But what’s truly worrisome is the honchos at the FAA.\u00a0 This week, they announced some new rules to fight controller sleepiness.\u00a0 The first requires that controllers get a 9-hour break between any two shifts.\u00a0 That makes some sense.\u00a0 Then they decided that there should be at least two controllers on the job at any time, even at small regional airports.\u00a0 That makes less sense.\u00a0 Some of the controllers who recently fell asleep did so in the presence of other controllers, and many critics feel that doubling up controllers is just paying two expensive employees to do what one failed to do in the first place.<\/p>\n
What makes NO sense, however, is the FAA’s flat refusal to let sleepy controllers get the one thing they badly need.\u00a0 A recent study jointly commissioned by the FAA and the controllers’ union concluded that the best solution for sleepy controllers is to let them get some sleep<\/em>, in the form of a 20-minute nap.\u00a0 It’s a solution that works in many other countries around the world.\u00a0 Sleep specialists agree, pointing to numerous studies that conclude that short naps not only improve performance but can result in better long-term health.\u00a0 Just 20 minutes and you’re back on your game.<\/p>\n Makes sense.\u00a0 But Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is having none of it, and said, thumping his chest:\u00a0 “On my watch, controllers will not be paid to take naps.”\u00a0 OK, just so we understand: controllers, on their personal breaks, WILL be paid to smoke cigarettes, eat ham sandwiches, go to the bathroom, play Sudoku, shop online, text the kids, scratch themselves. But if these exhausted…stressed-out people…lie…down…on…the…soft…comfy…couch…and…close…their…eyes……..<\/p>\n THEY’RE FIRED!\u00a0 Hoo yeah, that’ll keep ’em awake!<\/p>\n Yikes.\u00a0 With decision-makers like LaHood in charge of our airplane safety, air traffic controllers may not be the only ones who are so nervous they can’t sleep.<\/p>\n Enjoy your flight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Man, it’s been a long week…so tired…can’t…stay…awake… (Eyes close.\u00a0 Head nods.\u00a0 20 minutes goes by…) OK, we’re back!\u00a0 Raring to go.\u00a0 But honestly, we’re worried.\u00a0 About air traffic control.\u00a0 All these controllers falling asleep on the job.\u00a0 Planes are going to run into each other, people are going to get…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[36,413,851,1015,1020,1124],"class_list":["post-221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-6","tag-air-traffic-controller","tag-faa","tag-nap","tag-ray-lahood","tag-regulation","tag-sleep"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}