The FAA’s plan to require that air traffic controllers receive at least 10 hours off between shifts and 12 hours before a midnight shift drew praise from National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chair Jennifer Homendy and criticism from the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), which represents U.S. controllers.
“The science around the dangers of fatigue is clear," Homendy said. "The safety of our skies depends on air traffic controllers who are well-trained and well-rested. This move by the FAA to give overworked and overscheduled air traffic controllers proper rest between shifts is the right thing to do.”
The NTSB cited one accident and an incident that highlighted controller fatigue. The controller who cleared Comair Flight 5191 for takeoff from Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky, on Aug. 27, 2006, worked a 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. shift the day before the accident, then nine hours later worked from 11:30 p.m. until the Comair flight took off on the wrong runway at 6:07 a.m. “The controller stated that his only sleep in the 24 hours before the accident was a two-hour nap the previous afternoon between these two shifts,” according to the NTSB. On March 23, 2011, a controller fell asleep in the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport tower due to “lack of sleep, fatigue resulting from working successive midnight shifts, and air traffic control scheduling practices.”
On April 19, just before announcing the new fatigue rules, the FAA shared a copy of its report and planned changes with NATCA. However, the union pointed out, “[The] FAA has not modeled these changes to determine what unintended consequences they may have to the already strained air traffic control staffing coverage.”
Controller understaffing is a critical issue, and NATCA believes that the application of the new fatigue rules will worsen the staffing situation and lead to more mandatory overtime. “Requiring controllers to work mandatory overtime to fill those holes would increase fatigue and make the new policy nothing more than window dressing,” the union said. “Understaffing currently requires [the] FAA to assign mandatory overtime to controllers, including regular six-day workweeks, which leads to fatigue.”
“The 2024 schedules were negotiated in late 2023 for each of FAA’s 313 air traffic control facilities. Immediate application of this change would disrupt the lives of controllers who rely upon their year-long schedules for work-life responsibilities. We expect that the FAA will meet its bargaining obligations before implementing any changes.”
“We have been calling for action on controller fatigue for more than 18 years,” Homendy said. “I am pleased to see today’s action by [FAA] Administrator [Mike] Whitaker, although much more work remains to be done.”