An air traffic controller sparked debate over the safety of flying at night after claiming in a viral TikTok that many air traffic control centers close at nighttime.
The viral video, which has over 711,000 views, was posted last week by air traffic controller and TikToker Doaviation (@doaviation) who has over 123,900 followers for his videos about his experience in the aviation industry.
The video shows the TikToker responding to a prompt from another TikToker, which asks viewers to “name one thing in your industry or profession that the general public would be shocked to know.”
“I’m an air traffic controller and there are about 139 federal standalone air traffic control towers in the United States, I work at one,” the TikToker responds to the prompt. “Every night 84 of those, about 60%, shut down and all the controllers go home and there’s nobody there to work traffic.”
“During those hours, when the control tower is closed, it’s the pilot’s responsibility to talk to other pilots and make sure that they’re not going to hit each other,” the TikToker elaborates.
“Air traffic control isn’t 24/7 at some places,” the video’s caption reads.
@doaviation #stitch with @annaschozer air traffic control isn’t 24/7 at some places #airtrafficcontrol #pilot #plane #airport ♬ original sound – doaviation
Air traffic controllers coordinate with pilots to maintain distance between airplanes and other aircraft and prevent collisions. Controllers work in towers, route centers, and control facilities. According to the United States Federal Aviation Association (FAA), there are 520 air traffic control towers, 21 route centers and approximately over 14,000 air traffic controllers in the United States.
It’s unclear on the FAA’s website how many air traffic control towers are open at nighttime. The Daily Dot was not able to confirm the TikToker’s assertion that 60 percent of towers shut down at night, and the TikToker did not respond to our inquiry about where he found his statistics in time for the publication of this article.
The video stirred controversy in its comments section over the lack of air traffic controllers at night. Many users were shocked or upset by the news.
“Do not fly at night got it thanks,” one user commented.
“I don’t think I wanted to know this,” another replied.
Others argued about whether the practice was safe or not.
“That’s still more than 50 towers with 24/7 coverage. It’s more than adequate for the traffic,” one user argued.
“Other towers pick up the traffic of the towers that close for the night. if Peoria closes, O’Hare picks it up,” another user commented.
“Not quite,” the creator of the TikTok replied. “Chicago approach control still provides radar service to the airport, but there are still no tower controllers on the field itself!”
While it’s unclear how many air towers close at night, or how the workload is shared between towers which do remain open, night, weekend, and rotating shifts are common for air traffic controllers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Nighttime air traffic control failures have been scrutinized in the past. Back in 2011, the New York Times published an article about multiple incidents of Air Traffic Controllers falling asleep during their night time shifts. The article described a push for the FAA to add multiple crew members to towers which operate overnight. It also pointed to a 2010 study which found fatigue on the job was often due to inconsistent scheduling.
But three years after these incidents, a 2014 report discovered the FAA still permits controllers to work exhausting schedules which lead to higher rates of accidents. These schedules require controllers to switch between day and night shifts in crammed periods of time, according to PBS.
In 2018, a controversy arose after an air traffic controller was “incapacitated” during her overnight shift, which she worked alone. It seems after the incident, the FAA’s policy continued to allow only one operator to be on during late hours, according to KSNV.
The Daily Dot reached out to the TikToker (@doaviation) via Instagram message, and to the FAA via email for comment.
Update 3:09pm CT June 6: A spokesperson from the Federal Aviation Administration told the Daily Dot that air traffic control towers typically only close during hours where there is “limited or no air traffic.”
“Every air traffic control facility has standard procedures to operate safely when it’s closed,” the said. “Terminal Radar Approach Controls (TRACONs), which handle aircraft between airports, direct pilots until they are on their final approaches to airports where the towers are closed. Once they’re in the tower’s airspace, pilots know to communicate their positions on the airport’s common frequency. TRACONs also clear pilots for departure at airports where the towers are closed.”
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