Airplanes on 40 minutes stuck in the air: a miracle escaped tragedy at the airport in Las Vegas

On Wednesday, at Las Vegas International Airport McCarran, five planes were airborne for 40 minutes due to a dispatcher’s health problems.

Фото: Depositphotos

The incident occurred during a stressful period on Wednesday shortly before midnight. For 40 minutes, the dispatcher did not respond to the aircraft requests, and then apparently fainted.

According to air traffic audio recordings, pilots of commercial airlines did not understand the dispatcher during radio communications during landing, entry clearance and instructions on the taxiway.

You can hear on the records that some are starting to talk among themselves about something happening. At some point, the dispatcher speaks inhibited and apologizes for the silence, adding that she is choking a little. A minute later, she misleads the planes. Finally, the microphone records the sounds of coughing and "grunting."

The dispatcher continued to ignore the requests from the pilots until a male voice was heard in the control room, asking the dispatcher if all was well with her. The dispatcher man replaced the woman in the post, and paramedics were called to the place.

“An air traffic controller at the Las Vegas Tower was found to be incapacitated while on duty,” the FAA said. The agency did not specify the reason for the dispatcher's incapacity and its data.

“We have carefully reviewed the incident and have confirmed that everyone was safe and there were no conflicts between aircraft at the airport,” the statement said. “However, the FAA is very concerned about this incident and what happened is unacceptable.”

During the incident, there were five planes in the air that were landing. The dispatcher worked just over an hour before the problems started.

“In this case, some pilots chose not to take off and communicated with other aircraft on a common radio frequency,” the FAA said in a statement.

Airport Director Rosemary Vassiliadis made a statement saying that the initial findings confirmed the FAA's assessment.

The FAA added that “it is deeply concerned about the incident” and “is taking immediate steps to change its night shift policy”.

The FAA requires two people in a control tower to a certain time based on traffic.

McCarran International Airport is one of the busiest US airports in 10.

The head of the National Association of Air Traffic Controllers, Paul Rinaldi, made a statement in which he praised the work of thousands of union members across the country and promised to cooperate in an FAA investigation, "so that all the facts are known."

On Sunday, the agency reported NBC News, that the woman no longer works for them, but did not disclose whether she was dismissed or chose to leave voluntarily.

Previously, the FAA said that the woman was sent on administrative leave.

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