The FAA has has suspended two air traffic controllers who were handling the plane involved in the crash last Saturday with a helicopter, which resulted in the death of 9 people. In a statement, the agency said “we learned that the controller handling the Piper flight was involved in apparently inappropriate conversations on the telephone at the time of the accident. We also learned that the supervisor was not present in the building as required.”
The Daily News reported that the controller was talking to his fiance as the disaster took place.
The FAA said that they have “no reason to believe at this time that these actions contributed to the accident, this kind of conduct is unacceptable.”
The two have been placed on disciplinary leave and disciplinary proceedings have begun, officials said.
(Source: NBC New York)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
2 Responses
There goes ANOTHER accident due to cell phone chatter.
If cancer won’t kill us than cellphones, talking on and texting will.
People are crossing the streets and bumping in to trees while walking and texting being totally clueless to the soroundings.
“There goes ANOTHER accident due to cell phone chatter.”
The accident was in no way caused by the controller talking on the phone. The controller had no responsibility for the plane at the time of the accident, the airplane was not in controlled airspace and the controller had already handed them off to Newark. The FAA acted irresponsibly by making this information public and causing people to believe the controllers were at fault.