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Managers will be present at early morning hours and also late night hours. in addition to that there will be a new hand off procedure between regional radar controllers and air traffic controllers in the tower. at 11:00 this morning the faa administrator randy babbitt and paul reynaldi spoke to reporters in slant about this issue as part of a tour they are conducting. they basically echoed the sentiments of ray lahood. here is what lahood had to say yesterday. >> we are going to make sure that controllers are well rested. we will inch sraoes the rest time by an hour. this is what we've recomme...

Proposed several rule changes which will take effect immediately. among them, nine hours off, now, between shifts and no swapping of shifts, so, air traffic controllers can spend the weekend. and managers are present for late-night shifts and early morning hours, and in addition, there is a new hand off procedure between the regional radar controllers and local air traffic controllers. and early this morning the f.a.a. administrator and the president of the national air traffic controllers association met with reporters and a group of air traffic controllers in atlanta to out line the plans a ...

Controller was asleep. the pilot's call signal you will hear is cheyenne lifeguard. 2:00 a.m. in the skies over reno. >> lifeguard -- >> reporter: the pilot of this medevac plane with a seriously ill patient onboard urgently needed to land. >> reno tower -- >> reporter: no answer from the tower, but radar controllers in northern california were listening. >> we're going to call him on the phone lines. >> all right. we'll circle. >> reporter: despite phone calls to the reno tower, still no answer. finally the medevac pilot told california controllers he couldn't wait any longer. >> we've got a ...

Four more air traffic controllers were suspected of falling asleep on the job. in the tower. the latest incident was in nevada. where a plane carrying a sick passenger was forced to land with no clearance from that tower. they simply couldn't get answer. as nbc's tom kocostello reports this is part of a disturbing trend. >> reporter: it was early morning in reno. the pilot of this medevac plane with a seriously ill patient on board urgently trying to land. no answer from the tower. but radar controllers in northern california were listening. >> okay, we're going to call them on the phone line....

All right. thank you, sir. >> did you hear him there? he said i have no comments. has no comment. that is the suspended air traffic controller there. that's the one who fell asleep in the tower at reagan national airport this week. in response to that incident, the faa administrator is now ordering radar controllers to check in with the towers during the overnight hours. this basically means the air traffic controller, they're going to confirm that somebody is in there, somebody is awake, and the tower is being manned. he's also calling for a nationwide review of staffing and backup procedures...