A lone AIr traffic Controller became incoherent and incapacitated at McCarran International Airport during a busy time at night, resulting in concerned and confused pilots opening chat to try and get someone up to the tower to manage flights and check on the incapacitated Air Traffic Controller. The incident lasted for around 40 minutes and the controller was in contact with around 29 aircraft during the incident.
This is why there should never be just one controller in a major airport tower at a time. Even in the hours where traffic is not busy, there should be two ATC in the tower in the event one becomes suddenly incapacitated. While controllers are required to have Class 2 medicals that have health checks to evaluate for any health problems that could result in being suddenly incapacitated, no one is ever 100% guaranteed to never become suddenly incapacitated for various reasons. Just as there is required to be two pilots in the cockpit at a time, ATC needs to have two controllers in the tower at a time during all hours of operation by the airport.
Man I had to stop the recording after listening for a minute. You could tell something was wrong. That’s extremely sad for that controller. Haven flown in and around Vegas several times that’s tear jerking to listen too.
It really is, I wish she could have received help sooner, hoping for the best and a full recovery. Took too long for the supervisor to notice in my opinion.
Sending get well soon vibes for the ATC person . I always thought major airports usually have more than one ATC person. Glad nothing else bad happened but I feel for her :(
As someone who flies in the Vegas valley multiple times a week, this is pretty scary.
Ive used this controller a few times and I hope that she is okay and has a speedy recovery.
That being said, she should not have been alone in that room. Very curious as to where the supervisior was during this.
Listened to the audio clips earlier today on VASAviation. You can just hear the helplessness in her voice towards the end of the video. It’s hard to listen to.
Then why is she no longer employed? If it would be medical it seems strange to me that she lost her job so fast. If she knew about her condition and never reported it, than it’s understandable. Let’s see what the investigation will turn up.
Listening to the ATC conversation it sounds like she was having a stroke. If so, there was way to much time until she got medical help. A stroke needs to be treated immediately.
Anyway, it’s unacceptable that there was only one controller present.
