Central Romania: Plane forced to circle Cluj-Napoca airport due to sleeping air traffic controller

A plane with hundreds of passengers was forced to remain in the air and circle the Cluj-Napoca International Airport for several minutes after an air traffic controller reportedly fell asleep on duty, Stirileprotv.ro reported. The incident is said to have happened over a month ago.

On that night, three controllers were reportedly on shift, and because traffic was low, two of them were assigned to directing.

The aircraft bound for Cluj-Napoca was preparing to land, at which point it reportedly failed to contact the Cluj control point. The controller, who was supposed to issue the landing clearance and prepare the runway, reportedly dozed off while on shift, according to media reports.

The crew reported the situation and was directed to a holding area, where the plane remained in the air for 11 minutes, performing circular maneuvers until it received landing approval.

Everything is said to have happened a month and a half ago, but it recently came to light when the Romanian Air Traffic Services Administration provided explanations.

"The internal analysis identified factors such as the controller’s limited experience and accumulated fatigue," stated Romatsa representatives, who also said that they have taken measures to prevent such situations in the future.

Passenger and aircraft safety was at no point affected, officials added.

(Photo source: Oleg_ivanov | Dreamstime.com)