Two passenger planes landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport were forced to land without assistance on Tuesday night after the sole air traffic controller on duty allegedly fell asleep during his shift.

Both flights, an American Airlines flight and a United Airlines flight, were able to land safely.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating the incident and has ordered the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) to add another controller to the night shift at Reagan airport.

The NTSB is also directing the FAA to look into increasing the number of air traffic controllers nationwide, saying that having one controller in a control room was unacceptable.

The FAA suspended the wayward air traffic controller on Thursday.

According to safety experts, the two planes were not in serious danger of colliding in midair, since air traffic was light during the midnight time frame in which the incident occurred.

In addition, the two pilots had the tower’s radio frequency to alert other planes of their descent.

However, there was a big risk the planes could have run into ground maintenance or vehicles. Air traffic controllers are tasked with making sure that the runways are clear for landing.

The incident has brought increased scrutiny to the issue of air traffic controller errors.

Last year, the number of mistakes made by air traffic controllers doubled compared to 2009, the FAA reported.

By Adriana Padilla for PeterGreenberg.com.

Related Links: Los Angeles Times, New York Times

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