The dysfunction surrounding the current state of air traffic control isn’t exclusive to the United States. An Air Corsica flight was stuck circling the skies for an hour on Tuesday instead of making a midnight landing at Napoleon Bonaparte Airport in Ajaccio, Corsica’s largest city. There was only one air traffic controller on duty, but he fell asleep and the runway lights weren’t turned on. The flight eventually landed after a Herculean effort to wake up the controller.
The Airbus A320 was arriving from Paris-Orly Airport an hour late when the flight crew couldn’t get in contact with the controller. According to the Times, regional controllers instructed the plane to hold over the Gulf of Ajaccio while the situation was resolved. The airport’s fire personnel were contacted and informed the local gendarmerie. The police broke through the security locks and made their way up the tower to find the controller asleep at his desk. Before the flight was forced to divert to another airport on the opposite side of the island, the controller turned on the runway’s lights and cleared the plane to land.
The air traffic controller was drug tested after the incident
The lone controller was later tested for drugs and alcohol, with the result coming back clean. While it might seem like an overreaction, it’s not unprecedented for air traffic controllers to show up to work drunk. A 2023 report detailed how overworked FAA controllers were caught drinking on the job to cope with the stress. One Florida controller detailed how a coworker had a heart attack and others suffered panic attacks.
It goes without saying that air traffic control serves a vital role in ensuring the safety of every flight. Earlier this week, a Spirit Airlines pilot wasn’t paying close attention to a controller while flying over Long Island and got too close to Air Force One. The frustrated controller exclaimed, “I got to talk to you twice every time. Pay attention. Get off the iPad.” Thankfully, the canary-yellow airliner kept the required separation and the U.S. Air Force didn’t have to intervene because it would be more than an iPad being dropped.
