ATC sleeps in, tower closed, aircraft circles 20min
Sleep-in, so plane flies on
02sep05
An air traffic controller who slept in has been blamed for a passenger plane being forced to circle over Canberra waiting for the air traffic tower to open.
The controller's alarm apparently failed to work on Wednesday morning and the air traffic control tower at Canberra International Airport was not opened at the usual time of 5:30am.
It opened 20 minutes later at 5:50am, and the delay caused a Qantas Boeing 737-800 flight from Perth to circle over Canberra airport for 20 minutes.
The plane, carrying 68 passengers, finally landed at 6:12am, 12 minutes after its scheduled arrival time.
Airservices Australia, which operates air traffic control operations across the country, said an investigation had been launched into the incident.
A spokesman for the government-owned body said two senior controllers would now be rostered on to open the tower at Canberra airport as a result of those circumstances.
"There's always more than one person in the tower. It's just that we have to have a senior controller in to open the tower," the spokesman said.
"There are going to be two senior controllers in the tower."
The spokesman said Tuesday's incident did not pose a safety threat to passengers or the aircraft.
"The controller slept in. In other industries people sleep in. It's a fact of life," he said.
Qantas said it was not concerned for the safety of its passengers at any time.