I was an air traffic controller for 5 years, and a pilot for 40+ years. What
us920669 said is pretty much true.
And by the way the word "controller" is part of the problem. The reality is, legally, and practically, the pilot controls the airplane. ATC provides information to pilots and provides separation between airplanes inside the various categories of "controlled" airspace. ATC does not legally "control" anything or any airspace. ATC is simply the agency that pilots agree to work with and accept "clearances" from in order to maintain a safe, orderly, efficient flow of air traffic.
When the press reports that an aircraft "landed without help from ATC" I generally stifle a yawn. Aircraft are doing that every hour of every day. Pilots only require information and clearances from ATC in dense traffic areas, or in instrument flight conditions (i.e. simplified as crappy weather) where they cannot be expected to see for themselves where other aircraft might be.
As evidenced by the fact that in every publicized incident over the last couple of weeks where a "controller" was asleep, various aircraft landed safely without help from ATC. My goodness how can that be???
My suggestion is that the Feds and the ATC union grand poo-bahs, rather than reacting with drama and insisting on more controllers on duty during
boring er... not busy times consider whether controllers should even be on duty at
boring er.. not busy times.
By the way, you may not know it but the Feds and the Union apparently agree to schedule more staff at those
boring er.. not busy facilities without actually hiring more staff! That just means more people are going to do more shiftwork... leading to - you guessed it - more opportunity for disrupted circadian rhythm problems and more likelihood of sleeping "controllers". A perfect bureaucratic solution doncha know!
Tell that to the pilot with the medical emergency and the patient.
Didn't that pilot manage to land okay without any input from the tower... or did he/she panic then crash and burn because he/she couldn't handle the airplane without ATC's help? It may have been slightly inconvenient, and maybe even annoying, but show me the evidence that it was in any way dangerous!
By the way, do not assume I approve of folks sleeping during duty hours by anything I comment here. I don't approve, I just believe that for dramatic and political reasons this is being over dramatized. Much the same way the press and many political figures over dramatize firearms ownership.
When I worked in ATC our facility (a tower) closed at 10pm every night for years, and the few aircraft operating through the night still managed to come and go safely without our "help".
