Bearing down on an airport? So what?
Daytona Beach News-Journal Online — This is one of the dumbest stories I’ve ever read. We’re all lucky to be alive with these idiots running things.
DAYTONA BEACH — The Federal Aviation Administration has forbidden air-traffic controllers at the Daytona Beach International Airport from listening to emergency weather band radios, which the controllers say would have alerted them to a tornado touching down nearby on Christmas Day.
Controllers brought a 50-passenger commercial jet in for landing Christmas Day, oblivious to a tornado warning issued by the National Weather Service. Controllers blamed their lack of notice on the FAA, which had banned radios from control towers in September. Two days after the tornado, the local FAA administrator put weather radios in the Daytona Beach tower.
But the FAA’s national headquarters ordered the radios removed Friday, said Kelly Raulerson, Daytona controller and representative for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.
“We now have no way of knowing if there is any tornadic activity in the area,” she said.
Raulerson said the radio ban compromises passengers’ safety. Tammy Jones, an FAA spokeswoman in Washington, disagreed. “As a matter of fact, the decision to ban those electronics is so that controllers can focus on the safe operation of airspace,” she said. Jones said the agency simply was enforcing in Daytona Beach the ban on radios enacted in September.
After the tornado, Kathleen Bergen, another FAA spokeswoman, said the agency never banned weather radios in control towers. “The weather radios were not banned at Daytona or any other tower,” she said Dec. 28. “Daytona simply didn’t have weather radios prior to the Christmas Day event.” Bergen was not available for comment Friday. Jones said she did not know why Bergen said the weather radios were allowed.
Gub!
found by Micah Maziar
You know, there is a loop hole around this….just have someone OUTSIDE the tower listening to NOAA Weather Radio.
‘The multi-million dollar government contract for weather radios has not been approved yet. These radios feature a mute button and special klaxon warning horns. All reasonable and affordable alternatives have been banned until these ‘special’ radios can be implemented.’ – Hali Burton (FAA Purchasing Agent)
just have someone OUTSIDE the tower listening to NOAA Weather Radio
That’s too simple for a government bureaucracy!
Semantically, Bergen’s statement reduces to: “The Agency has decided that the use of safety equipment would present a threat to safety.”
And she “wasn’t available for comment.” Ya. I’m sure she wasn’t. The public cannot demand the rationale behind government actions that impact public safety. We can’t (but we should be able to) compel persons such as Bergen to submit to public questioning. All bureaucratic idiots like her have to do is – not answer the phone!
I think one reason the gov’t has become unaccountable for their actions is that no one (read: Congress) demands that they DO account for them.
Oops. If Congress demanded accountability from others in gov’t, it would only be a matter of time before someone would notice THEIR shunning of accountablility…
#1. Having someone monitor the radio from another room is not always an option.
Often (8 1/2 hours per day, there is no one except for the 2 controllers who are on position. Those controllers cannot leave there posts to go into the other room to listen to the radio/tv or to check the internet. If they were to get caught being away from their positions, they could be disciplined or fired.
this is all part of how george w. bush prepares for disaster — pretend it’s not going to happen.
worked well in new orleans!
If you dont know…
These radios can be set, to ONLY turn on when there is a weather warning for THE area you live in….
The thing just SITS there until there is a MAJOR warning…
What is the distraction??
ECA, that is exactly how it was set. They didn’t make a single noise for the entire time period that they were in place.
Also, the controller’s “coffee fund” paid for them, so the FAA saw no impact on its budget. The money came out of controllers’ pockets.
#8 –
Ya, but this is a bureaucracy we’re talking about here: anything not mandatory is forbidden…
Jones said she did not know why Bergen said the weather radios were allowed.
I think someone has some ‘splaining to do. Why are safety warning radios not allowed and why is there a disagreement between spokespeople at the FAA.
I’d be willing to bet they were banned because the radios provided a FREE service – an evil communist islamofacist concept to the current administration. No doubt some deal was done where some Halliburton subsidiary got a billion-dollar contract to install tornado warning systems in the control towers, currently scheduled to be completed five years from now.
The FAA also said that during a severe storm/event, controllers can listen to the TV/Radio in the breakroom.
Only problem, DAB lost power during this even and was on backup generators, the generator only powers critical equip, not the whole building, so the TV’s/radios in the breakroom weren’t powered, and “surfing the net” for NWS warnings or anything else is a good way to get FIRED.
Besides that the TV service in DAB tower is sat tv. Anyone try watching sat TV through a level 5 thunderstorm? Let me know how well that works out.
The FAA is run by F*cking morons, and they’ve got no problem killing you or your family on an airplane if it’s to put a controller in their place.
see, the controllers – if they had a powerful union – could demand the tools to do their job right.
but public employee unions are bad, right?
SAME question,,
What do the law majers DO, after they have created ALL the laws…
SAMe answer..
DIDDLY SQUAT.
#2 – if that’s an accurate quote, it accounts for the whole uncoordinated mess. There’s a deal in the works for some contractor to make a mint supplying “special” radios. With klaxons, for godsake. So a controller is landing a passenger jet when a piece of equipment that has sat silent for months suddenly goes all klaxon on him. Yeah, that sounds like a fine safety idea. Jeez.
Toto, I dont think we’re in Kansas anymore…
TJGeezzer: We’ve got a bunch of things that go “beep beep beep” in the night: LLWAS alerts (wind shear), AMASS (ground radar logic), Conflict alert, low altitude alert, ASOS wx. Pilots have TCASII alerts “PULL UP, PULL UP/ TERRAIN TERRAIN!” landging gear alarms, stall warning alarms, over-speed alarms, engine fire alarms, etc etc.
Amazing what alarms do: ALERT you to a DEADLY situation. Imagine that….!
I suppose it’d be better though if the alert went something like “*soft soothing voice* Yawwwwnnnnn. Excuse me sir, I don’t mean to distract you, but it appears that the aircraft on short final is about to plow into the ground, you might want to consider alerting the flight-crew, thank you for your attention and sorry to disturb you from your other tasks right now.”
The whole POINT of an aural alarm is to instanty attract your attention to a deadly situation: Like a tornado, wind shear/microbursts, collision hazards etc. etc. etc.. So yeah, having a radio that alarms when a tornado is coming really IS a good idea, that’s why NOAA wx radios are made!
Besides, if you don’t want the actual alarm on, the WX radios can be set to just activate on the voice warning, and you can set the volume so it won’t scare the hell out of everyone when it goes off.
But don’t let facts get in the way of a good argument Geezer.
Bushies have been trying to get rid of NOAA for awhile now anyway. They want it replaced with private services like Intellicast, which is a campaign donor. Plus, NOAA has been sounding the alarm about global warming, which hasn’t made those who profit from it happy.
Someones about to get “Pyrenees in northern Spain”-ed if ya konw what i mean!
Recently seen on a PBS aviation weather program, a film clip in which controllers were seen telling pilots that they could not provide storm advisories because flight control radar was an imperfect indicator of weather activity. Pilots should find their way around weather without controller assistance.
The reason given by the FAA representative was that the government might be liable for damages if someone broke an airplane or a neck based on the controller providing guidance.
Too many lawyers. Too little sense. Badness.
I work in a goverment job where I am required to dispatch and monitor people and services. They put one of those radios in my office last year. The problem was it goes off way to often. after about the 6th time it blew me out of my chair I disabled it. It reminded me of a smoke detecter in a kitchen that keeps going off every time you cook. really useless.
DAB only has two weather related types of equipment. One is the LLWAS which provides low level wind shear alerts. The second is the ASR-9 radar system which provides 6 levels of preciptation. It doesn’t show thunderstorms, it doesn’t show lightning, hail, or any type of tornado. The COM jet that was inbound on Christmas Day was about to be turned in on final when the power was lost in the facility–an act of God or fate or whatever else you want to call it–if it hadn’t been lost the outcome for the jet most likely would have been the same as the flight school’s aircraft with one exception–the plane was full of people. The radios that were bought would only alarm in there was a warning in your area, the rest of the time they sat in a corner and collected dust.
Now I ask you is your life worth the price of a $19 weather radio? Is a love one’s life worth that price? Think about that the next time you climb on board an aircraft and think about the decision of the FAA to deny those who will be responsible for your life the most basic of safety equipment out there. If you are as angry about this as others than do something…..write your senators and congressman…..demand to have these inexpensive tools put back into the towers, approach controls and centers of the FAA.
Has anyone ever actually read the FAA’s Mission Statement?
Our Mission
Our mission is to provide the safest, most efficient aerospace system in the world.
Our Vision
Our vision is to improve the safety and efficiency of aviation, while being responsive to our customers and accountable to the public.
Our Values
Safety is our passion. We’re world leaders in aerospace safety.
Quality is our trademark. We serve our country, our customers, and each other.
Integrity is our character. We do the right thing, even if no one is looking.
People are our strength. We treat each other as we want to be treated.
I find it utterly incredible that an agency with that mission statement blatently disregards the safety of its own employees. Good grief…that whole last bit about “Our Values” seems to be lost completely from what I’ve read on various sites. Integrity? Really?! Can anyone really say that with a straight face?
#23 – In the current administration, no government agency follows its original mandate. The purpose of any government agency now is to protect the insane profits of the wealthiest companies and steer more taxpayer dollars their way.