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.
