The staffing situation is now under extreme scrutiny after the troubling incident this week at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.  Two planes had to land without any communication from the control tower early Wednesday when the lone air traffic controller on duty on the overnight shift fell asleep, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.  Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has now ordered the FAA to schedule two controllers on the overnight shift at Reagan and asked the agency to study staffing levels at other airports around the country.  On Friday, the FAA said it's instituting an interim plan to address all the concerns. The agency is reviewing overnight staffing at selected airports and reminding all air traffic controllers to offer pilots the option to divert to another airport if they do not make contact with the control tower  "I am determined to make sure we do not repeat Wednesday's unacceptable event," FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt said in a statement.  The National Air Traffic Controllers Association applauded the move.  "One-person shifts are unsafe. Period," Paul Rinaldi, the group's president, said in a statement. "Wednesday's incident clearly shows the need for an urgent, comprehensive, nationwide staffing study."  Having at least two people in the tower is a must, agreed Bob Richards, a retired air traffic controller who worked at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport for 22 years and is the author of the book "Secrets From The Tower."  If there is an emergency on board a plane, for example, one controller can deal directly with the aircraft and find out the details of the crisis, while the other controller can coordinate the emergency response on the ground, Richards said.  "Something can happen at any moment. Things can go wrong in a second and you have to be able to react to it," Richards told CNN's "American Morning."
You may think the country's air traffic control towers are bustling with activity around the clock, but it turns out that it's a lonely job late at night for workers in some places when few planes