Another Air Traffic Controller Suspended

Market Watch: U.S.air-traffic controllers will have revised schedules as of early next week in an effort to stem on-the-job fatigue, federal aviation authorities said on Saturday.

The Federal Aviation Administration is banning practices found likely to lead to controllers showing up for shifts in a weary state, FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt said Saturday in a statement.

The FAA also said it had suspended a controller early Saturday morning for falling asleep on the job during the midnight shift at the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center.

The incident is the latest in a string of at least eight such controller lapses acknowledged by the FAA this year, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Reported to management by a colleague, the unidentified controller did not miss any calls from pilots and there was no impact on operations, according to an initial review of air traffic tapes, the FAA said.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on Wednesday said the FAA would add controllers to midnight shift previously staffed by one person at airport towers and facilities around the country.