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Tower At Reagan National Goes Silent As Planes Attempt To Land
he control tower at Reagan National Airport went silent early Wednesday, forcing two airliners carrying a total of 165 passengers and crew to land on their own. The tower did not respond to pilot requests for landing assistance or to phone calls from controllers elsewhere in the region, who also used a “shout line” which pipes into a loudspeaker in the tower, internal records show. (www.washingtonpost.com) 기타...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
Let's consider that the two pilots were right in considering the airport uncontrolled. But then, can an IFR flight land into an uncontrolled airport, or should they have diverted on the alternate?
I think the only reason everyday in D.C. is up in arms is that they are only interested in protecting the Capital! Does any station deserve any less simply because we don't have lawmakers present or in the vicinity? While I understand the severity of the issue at hand, I still think this has more to do with politics than people actually worried about airliner safety. I trust our pilots (for the most part) and know that they are capable people, who I don't trust are the surrounding politicians who seem to only be worried about saving their collective tails...i.e. the necessity to having special precautions in/out of DCA after Sep 11th! No reason this airport should get any more attention than say La Guardia or Boston.
surely they need two controllers there, one surely cannot have sole responsibility not only that but if there is two of them they can keep each other awake as they say, defo need two controllers i think i reall hope they do this and not just talk about it
The problem with the CFR's is they contradict themselves. Somewhere else in the CFR you will find a procedurenfor what to do in just such an instance as what happened the other morning.
WatchDog..
I concur with your statement that it could be argued in front of the NTSB. However, I don't know how I would have known that there was not an operating control tower, since there were no notams etc. about a tower outage.
Also, I doubt that I would want to land based on the thought that I could argue in front of the NTSB.
Further hindsight is 20/20 as well. If the pilots had been busted for violation of 91.129, management would not support them. If they had gone to BWI or Dulles based on "no clearance," and by so doing caused a huge logistical problem for the ground crew, and a ton of complaints to the customer service department, you can bet that airline management would be in the middle of any uproar that came of it. Right now it is just the pilots on their own.
Not arguing your point, just trying to put myself in their shoes.
Mike
I concur with your statement that it could be argued in front of the NTSB. However, I don't know how I would have known that there was not an operating control tower, since there were no notams etc. about a tower outage.
Also, I doubt that I would want to land based on the thought that I could argue in front of the NTSB.
Further hindsight is 20/20 as well. If the pilots had been busted for violation of 91.129, management would not support them. If they had gone to BWI or Dulles based on "no clearance," and by so doing caused a huge logistical problem for the ground crew, and a ton of complaints to the customer service department, you can bet that airline management would be in the middle of any uproar that came of it. Right now it is just the pilots on their own.
Not arguing your point, just trying to put myself in their shoes.
Mike
These guys are Professional Pilots, right? The hardest part for them is
getting guidance getting to the gate.