The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a report that a Denver air traffic controller dismissed a request for an emergency landing from a United flight arriving from Peoria, IL as a hoax.
Investigators are looking at whether controllers' confusion delayed first responders as the plane was on its final approach, 9NEWS Aviation Analyst Greg Feith, a former NTSB investigator, said.The controller then went on to continue directing traffic before Flight 5912 made another emergency call announcing the had already landed and were evacuating the aircraft.
Only one of the 21 people on board the plane was taken to the hospital after the incident.
Tuesday morning around 8:30, United Express Flight 5912, operated by ExpressJet, declared an emergency landing during its final approach to DIA after being cleared to land, according to a control-tower recording provided by an FAA source. The emergency landing was because of smoke in the cockpit.
The NTSB was investigating the Embraer 145's right engine failed on approach to Denver. According to an FAA report of the incident, firefighters extinguished a small fire located behind the instrument panel.
The incident comes a year after multiple reports of Air Traffic Controllers throughout the country falling asleep or being distracted on the job- including a near miss involving an aircraft carrying First Lady Michelle Obama.
Interestingly, the incident took place around the same time President Obama assailed Republican congressman Paul Ryan's latest budget proposal, specifically mentioning the FAA.
“Cuts to the FAA would likely result in more flight cancellations, delays, and the complete elimination of air traffic control services in parts of the country,” Obama said in a speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors on Tuesday.So even without Ryan's budget plan being approved, these dire scenarios Obama is predicting regardin the FAA are already happening. Apparently that's how evil, draconian and sinister the Ryan budget plan is.
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