Nice : pas de sanction contre un contrôleur aérien endormi

[catchup]

Nice : pas de sanction contre un contrôleur aérien endormi

Reuters 2005 Rowan Griffiths

Faute d'autorisation d'atterrir et en dépit d'appels radio répétés, un avion de l'Aéropostale a tourné 30 minutes au-dessus de Nice dans la nuit de mercredi à jeudi, en attendant que quelqu'un réveille le contrôleur aérien de service qui s'était assoupi.

Alertés par le silence radio de la tour de contrôle, les gendarmes des transports aériens et le permanent du bureau de piste sont allés vérifier que rien de fâcheux n'était arrivé aux deux contrôleurs qui auraient dû être à leur poste. Sur place, ils ont constaté que le seul contrôleur présent était plongé dans un sommeil profond et son collègue absent. Tiré en sursaut de son sommeil, le contrôleur a rattrapé la situation et l'avion s'est posé sans problème. Gérard Bomont, le responsable de la navigation aérienne, a décidé de ne pas retenir une faute professionnelle, ni de prendre des sanctions contre les contrôleurs en cause.

[FormerFlyer]

oh my gosh - doesn't seem particularly good.

no suspension or sanctions against someone who was asleep at work. seems v odd to say the least. perhaps was a scheduled nap break when the other one nipped out and that was when caught out. I'm bearing in mind that FD take in turn to have sleep breaks, so perhaps do Nice ATC?


cheers ;)
FF

[Sparkle]

how about using the AVIATION language, as this is a PROFESSIONAL pilots forum!

it helps your spatial awareness enourmously, especially in your airspace.

watch out controllers AND pilots: there are some British cretin pilots who actually DO understand French, and hear you getting preferential treatment on approaches and airways.

it is sometimes so petty and obvious, and sometimes downright UNSAFE!:yuk: :yuk: :yuk: :yuk: :yuk:

[BOAC]

This is 'babelfish's attempt at the story

Nice: no the sanction counters a deadened air controller Reuters 2005 Rowan Griffiths Fault of authorization of landing and in spite of repeated radio operator calls, a plane of Air-mail turned 30 minutes above Nice in the night of Wednesday at Thursday, while waiting for that somebody awakes the air controller of service which had calmed down. Alerted by the radio operator silence of the tower of control, the gendarmes of air transports and the permanent one of the runway office went to check that nothing annoying had arrived to the two controllers who should have been at their station. On the spot, they noted that the only controller present was plunged in a major sleep and his colleague absent. Drawn in start from his sleep, the controller caught up with the situation and the plane landed without problem. Gerard Bomont, the person in charge for the aerial navigation, decided not to retain a professional misconduct, nor to take sanctions against the controllers in question.


Makes 'sleeping' receivers' look quite harmless? :D :D

[Random Electron]

Wow.

Now that's asking for intervention (or interception?) by the French Air Force!
I can just see the post now:-

"Mirage appears in control tower!"

[ive348]

Need I remind Sparkle that apart from English there are 3 other languages recognised as aviation language: Spanish, Russian and French. That's why all ICAO doc's are also printed in those languages.

As for the discussed situation: in the days of single person nightshifts, it did happen to me that I fell asleep in front of the Radar. Must have been around 3am. Not much traffic around, and loudspeaker at max volume so as to wake up from any unexpected call. Of course now we are always two and I would not leave the room unless I new my mate was awake.

[niknak]

Reminds me of the "alleged" incident many years ago at a certain airport in the Middle East, when an Air France B747 carried out a Cat 3 auto land in the deep hours of darkness.

As the aircraft was taxying off the runway he commented " I think you may have a few lighting unservicabilities".

It was only then that the tower atco raised himself from the mattress on the floor to observe that he had forgotten to switch the runway lights on.....

[Animalclub]

Had to go to the airport tower at Nauru to see why no one was answering signals from Brisbane. Disturbed him doing the horizontal tango with a lady friend!! It was night time after all!

[B Fraser]

apart from English there are 3 other languages recognised as aviation language

IVE348 is entirely correct....... and the mix of French / English was a major contribution to the incident at CDG where the MD-83 and the Shorts 330 collided on the ground. Documents are one thing, operational procedures are quite another issue.

[tribekey]

The days of single person night shifts are still with us.

[flowman]

Surely it's better to post the story in French than not at all. I hardly think there are any safety implications for this website!
There are plenty of willing contributers to translate the story.
Strange how such a posting can turn into a bigoted thread about languages. After all, that subject has been discussed many times before on these forums.

[DFC]

This is a written statement and thus has no connection with the debate regarding the use of English in R/T.

The only people who complain about use of language other than English are those that know no other language and the majority of Europeans except the UK have more than one language.

Many UK aviation professionals have visited France and been given tours conducted by French people who speak perfectly good english. Not much chance of that happening the other way round on a regular basis eh?

There are many places where controllers sleep at night. During a tour of LATCC I seem to remember that there were offices that doubled as bedrooms for the night shift!

The days of the sleeping bag on the tower floor are far from gone.........but one would think that the average ATCO would have the sense to bring along an alarm clock! :)

Regards,

DFC

[atcea.com]

http://atcea.com/images/untitled.jpg

[Barry Cuda]

I love some of the translation that Babelfish comes up with...

From the bizarre:Nice: no the sanction counters a deadened air controller to the downright poeticDrawn in start from his sleep

[Frunobulax]

but one would think that the average ATCO would have the sense to bring along an alarm clock!


or at least to turn up the volume ;)

[catchup]

Commercial flying is sometimes real funny...



Regards;)