OBERLIN, Ohio—
An incident at the Cleveland Air Transportation Center in Oberlin, that resulted in the suspension of an air traffic controller and his supervisor, has gotten the attention of National Transportation Secretary, Ray Lahood.The FAA says the controller, who has not been identified, was watching a movie on a DVD player while he was on the job directing air traffic early on Sunday.
For a three minute period, the controller's microphone was open and the soundtrack from the movie was being transmitted over a frequency that prevented aircraft from communicating with the control center. A military pilot alerted them of the incident by calling in on an alternate frequency.
On Tuesday, Lahood said he was aware of the incident and said it should never have happened.
"The incident in Cleveland where the controller was watching a movie is outrageous, it's ridiculous, it's not the kind of behavior that we will tolerate and we have suspended the controller and we have suspended the controller's supervisor. We are going to conduct an investigation and get to the bottom of it," said Lahood, in response to a Fox 8 News question.
It has also gotten the attention of Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Cleveland.
"I am the top democrat on the investigative subcommittee that has jurisdiction over the Federal Aviation Administration," Kucinich told Fox 8 News on Tuesday, adding, "I will tell you that I intend to be in close contact with the FAA regarding, not just this incident in Oberlin, but regarding exactly what the FAA is doing."
Kucinich says he understands the responsibility that the air traffic controllers have and believes there can be no distractions.
"You can't sleep on the job and you can't be watching movies on the job...that's obvious," said Kucinich.
A source very familiar with the operation at the Cleveland Air Transportation Center in Oberlin says the suspended air traffic controller has been on the job five or six years. The source describes him as ordinarily very responsible, calling Sunday morning's miscue an "isolated incident."
But, the source also says that Sunday morning's incident, and the larger scale concerns over fatigue among air traffic controllers, can easily be related.
The source tells Fox 8 News that the only reason any controller might want to take a DVD with them to work, is so that they have something to keep them from dozing.
The Cleveland Air Transportation Center directs traffic through one of the busiest corridors in the nation, as planes pass over the Northeastern United States and a part of Southern Canada.
Controllers there were the last to communicate with the terrorists who hijacked United Flight 93 before crashing it into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on September 11, 2001.
Drew McQueen, a representative of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association's local office in Oberlin, declined comment on Tuesday, referring calls to the union's national office in Washington.
In the nation's capital, Secretary Lahood made it clear on Tuesday that the agency was taking a sleep study -- currently underway -- seriously.
In a release on Monday, the FAA also said its policy "prohibits the use of portable DVD players and other devices from being used on the floor of the radar room."
Lahood insisted Tuesday that any air traffic controller who was sleeping on the job, or distracted in any other way would be suspended.
"I want the flying public to know that when a controller is at the tower looking at the radar screen, that they are doing it in the most professional way that they possibly can, and they are not deterred by the fact that they are not well rested," Lahood said.
The FAA would not provide anyone to answer questions from Fox 8 News on Tuesday. A regional spokesperson in Chicago said the agency's director would be speaking only to the national media.
Congressman Kucinich said details were also not provided to him. The agency said it has an investigation underway.
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