塔台空管睡岗事件引发中国网民热议

Add sleeping air traffic controllers to China's endless list of air travel woes.

中国航空旅行问题本来就不少，现在又发生了空管人员睡着的事情。

News recently surfaced that two air traffic controllers nodded off last month while a China Eastern Airlines flight was trying to land in the central Chinese city of Wuhan around midnight. The pilot tried to make contact with the airport's air traffic control tower, but was unable to do so for a period of 12 minutes.

最近有消息称，上个月中国东方航空(China Eastern Airlines)的一架飞机午夜试图在武汉降落时，两名空管人员却睡着了。飞行员试图联系机场航空管制塔台，但12分钟内无人回应。

The reason? According to a spokeswoman at China's aviation regulator, two air traffic controllers on duty had fallen asleep.

原因何在？据中国航空监管部门一名发言人称，两名值班的空中交通管制员睡着了。

While the plane eventually landed safety, news of the incident sparked furious reaction among observers.

虽然飞机最终安全降落，但这则消息引发了观察人士的激烈反应。

'This is such irresponsible behavior,' Ren Zhiqiang, a well-known property developer, wrote on his microblog.

知名地产商任志强在他的微博上写道：“这太不负责任了。”

'It put hundreds of peoples' lives at risk,' wrote Wang Wei, a financier, on his verified microblog.

金融家王巍在新浪微博认账账户发帖说：“涉及几百人生命啊”。

'It is so irresponsible. Heavy pressure and fatigue alone can't account for such behavior,' wrote another microblogger. Others called for the napping staff to be fired.

另一位用户写道，太不负责任了。沉重的压力和疲劳感不足以解释这种行为。其他人则呼吁解雇打盹的员工。

Still, others leapt to the defense of the fatigued workers. 'No one cares about the life of air traffic controllers. Recent years saw a 20% increase of flights in the air, but it takes two to three years to train a professional air traffic controller. Such changes have resulted in a dire shortage of controllers. They are working overtime but their pay is declining. It is wrong to sleep while on duty. But the media never care about our lives,' another microblogger user identifying himself as an air traffic controller wrote on his verified account.

不过，也有一些人跳出来为疲惫的工作人员辩护。另一位微博认证为“航空管制员”的用户在其账户上写道：“只愿你们报道的时候全面一些。近年来飞行流量每年增20%，管制负荷就是指数级增长，培养一个管制员现在已经需要两年半到三年。管制员人数严重不足？那怎么办？加班！这些人辛辛苦苦的加班、超出负荷的运转，工资还在下降，睡岗是不对，可是大媒体谁关注过空管的辛苦。”

China's hardly the only country that's seen some air traffic controllers fall prey to slumber, with numerous cities across the U.S. ranging from Boston to Washington, D.C. reporting similar problems.

中国不是世界上唯一一个存在航空管制员在工作中打盹现象的国家。从波士顿到华盛顿，美国全国多个城市都曾报道过类似问题。

The spokeswoman for China's aviation regulator said an investigation into the matter had been launched and that the two air traffic controllers had been transferred from their duties for the moment, without providing more details.

中国航空监管部门发言人称，已经针对这一事件展开调查，这两名管制员已暂时被调离岗位。该发言人没有提供更多细节。

While the flight's landing was delayed, she said an approach controller -- whose job is to direct pilots before they make contact with an airport's air traffic control -- was still closely monitoring the flight. 'We won't be careless with air safety. It's always our top priority,' she said.

这名发言人称，虽然航班降落的时间被延迟，但机场调度员仍在密切监控着这架飞机。机场调度员的责任是在飞行员和航空交通管制取得联系前对飞行员进行引导。发言人称，监管部门不会在空中安全问题上疏忽大意，安全永远是头等大事。