Controller at radar centre in Ohio suspended after pilots heard DVD he was watching while on duty, US aviation agency says
An air traffic controller relaxing with a Samuel L Jackson film while on the job was caught out after his microphone jammed and the sound of the 2007 crime thriller was broadcast to pilots he was supposed to be guiding in, the US Federal Aviation Administration has said.
The unnamed officer at a regional radar centre in Ohio has been suspended from duty along with a manager at the same location. He had been tuned in to a DVD of Cleaner, the Renny Harlin-directed film in which Jackson plays a crime scene mopper-up who unwittingly participates in a cover-up, the FAA said.
The controller only became aware that the game was up after a military pilot contacted him. The incident is the latest in a series that has caused widespread concern over air safety in the US. The FAA has suspended several controllers and supervisors since late March, with five workers alleged to have been asleep on the job and two in Texas who were unresponsive to radio calls.
The agency plans to introduce rules to ensure staff take at least nine hours between shifts to allow enough time for rest and relaxation. Controllers are forbidden to sleep during shifts, even during the 20 to 30-minute breaks they receive every few hours.
"None of us in this business can ... tolerate any of this," said FAA administrator Randy Babbitt. "It absolutely has to stop."
Unfortunately, he was speaking before news of the movie-watching incident emerged. It might have been more alarming for the pilots: one of Jackson's best-known recent movies is the 2006 airborne romp Snakes on a Plane.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/apr/19/air-traffic-controller-samuel-l-jackson
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