FAA Establishes New Panel to Tackle Air Traffic Controller Fatigue after Multiple Near Misses, Sources Confirm

The Federal Aviation Administration is reportedly addressing the issue of overworked and understaffed air traffic controllers by convening a special panel to review the safety risks posed by on-the-job fatigue. According to sources, the agency is expected to announce this action this week, although the FAA has declined to comment on the matter.

The decision comes after a series of close calls this year involving commercial flights on or near the runways of major airports. A report last month from an expert panel assembled by the FAA to address the close calls cited short-staffed air traffic control towers as one of the issues.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) logo is seen near its headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, March 6, 2021, during the coronavirus pandemic. The Senate has just approved President Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill with some changes to the previous House version after a week of late-night sessions and intense negotiations. (Photo by Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images)

Panel of experts is recommending changes be made to FAA policies in order to prevent collisions between airliners, citing the current safety standards as being unsustainable.

Last month, investigative findings from the National Transportation Safety Board revealed that an air traffic controller working an overtime shift during a six-day workweek was involved in a near-collision at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas in February.

Additional near-misses have been recorded this year in various parts of the US, such as Boston, Honolulu, New York, Burbank, California; Sarasota, Florida; and at Reagan National Airport outside Washington, DC.

Criticism has been directed at the FAA for not taking a more proactive approach in addressing the shortage of air traffic controllers, with the agency currently facing a deficit of over 3,000 controllers.

Last month, the head of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association labor union reported that the FAA's hiring efforts resulted in only six new controllers in the past year. The union emphasized that the shortage of certified professional controllers is the fundamental cause of controller fatigue, and called for a long-term commitment to hiring and training air traffic controllers as the solution to prolonged fatigue.

In 2015, NASA conducted a study on over 3,200 air traffic controllers and discovered that 2 out of 10 had made significant on-the-job errors in the previous year, with most attributing it to fatigue. Additionally, about one third of the controllers surveyed identified fatigue as a "high" or "extreme" safety risk.