Reason #2985 to be afraid of flying......

A British airliner was among four deliberately diverted into a potentially dangerous thunderstorm area to test the skills of a trainee US air traffic controller, it was claimed.
 
The Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 and three others were rerouted at the direction of a supervisor at a control centre in Jacksonville, Florida, the controllers' union said. 
Dave Cook of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association said the diversion increased the risk to the passengers and crews. 
 
"In my 20 years as an air traffic controller, we had never done anything like what they just did," he said. 
 
Mr Cook said the four planes - a Delta Boeing 757, the Virgin jumbo and two Southwest airlines Boeing 737s - were en route to Orlando International Airport in Florida last when they were moved on the orders of an air traffic control supervisor who wanted to test the trainee. 
The planes were directed at least 60 to 70 miles out of their way into an area of airspace known as the "Alma sector," where there were storms, Mr Cook said. 
 
The pilots would have had to "zigzag" to avoid the storms, adding extra miles to their trip, he said. 
The Federal Aviation Authority which is investigating the incident denied thunderstorms were in the area and said the flights were directed only 33 to 50 miles out of their way. 
 
"There was no compromise of safety by the rerouting," an FAA spokeswoman said.
 
Trainee controllers "must train on simulators, but [B]they must receive on-the-job training[/B] under the supervision of another fully certified controller and a supervisor before they can check out," she said.
 
:pat:

eh it's not that bad.  As a professional flyer in the Air Force this doesn't sound out of the ordinary to me.  People need real life training with real lives once and a while you know?  :runcoold:

Sounds pretty messed up to me.

Training was boring so they put people in danger to spice it up?


then again, some are saying it didn't happen that way :shrug: