Page 28 - Control Towers News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

In this growing investigation into air traffic controllers in our country sleeping on the job. after a series of incidents where control towers were stretched thin or even unmanned, some sleep experts are defending the controllers, saying that night shift workers should, in fact, catch a few zs while they're at work. doug mckelway joins us live. is this what they're supposed to do to stay fresh? >> in the minds of psychologists and sleep experts, yes. in the mind of politicians, no. the political response to this mirrors the tone of washington these days. secretary of transportation calling fo...

Personal responsibility for the very important safety jobs that we have. we can make changes but when the controllers come to work they have to take personal responsibility for the fact that they are guiding planes in and out of airports and it to be done safely and they have to be well rested and alert and we will take care of the fact that they are well trained. they have to take some personal responsibility for this it. >> chris: you say you are prepared to announce what the changes you going to make are. what are they? >> number one we will make sure stat controllers are well rested and in...

Tornadoes sweep across the southeast. now the painful task of recovery begins. wolf blitzer is off. i'm suzanne malveaux and you're in "the situation room." seven air traffic controllers have fallen asleep on duty this year and federal regulators and un nen officials are angry and embarrassed. they hit the road bringing new safety rules to control towers across the country. the first stop, a radar facility near atlanta. our cnn's jean ma serve is tracking this for us. what are we learning today? >> reporter: well, the head of the air traffic controllers union both have a big stake in fixing th...

We can make changes, but when these controllers come to work, they have to take personal responsibility for the fact that they are guiding planes in and out of airports, and it has to be done safely, and they have to be well-rested and have to be alert and we'll take care of the fact they need to be well trained. but, they have to take personal responsibility for this. >> chris: all right. you say that you are prepared right now to announce what the changes you are going to make are. what are they. >> chris, number one, we are going to make sure that controllers are well-rested and we are goin...

Medical flight with a critically ill patient was held in the air while attempts were made to wake up the controller. finally, the pilot simply landed anyway, and hoped that he wouldn't hit anything or anybody. now, here is transportation secretary ray lahood. >> we're doing a top to bottom review and we will not rest until these control towers are as safe as they possibly can be. >> no, he won't rest, but his people will. >> in fact, this'll be asleep. you know, i grew up watching capital kangaroo every morning on tv and i used to love it when capital kangaroo had a question that needed an ans...