caught napping three times in seattle, plus the infamous sleepers in knoxville and washington, d.c in knoxville, the controller had made a bed in the tower while on duty. no one s answering on 23-9. reporter: in washington, two passenger jets landed unassisted as the controller slept at regan national, just across the potomac from the white house. and the tower is apparently unmanned. i m outraged, i m disappointed, i m disturbed. reporter: cbs news transportation safety analyst mark rosinger says that seven sleeping controllers is a sign the public is at risk. i believe with with no pun intend, this clearly is a wake-up call and the f.a.a. is going to do something about it, and, frankly, they re going to do something about it immediately. reporter: the administration did react immediately, ordering 27 new controllers to work the midnight shift. immediately putting two controllers in 27 towers that don t have two controllers in them from 12 midnight until ear
couric: good evening, everyone. it s hard to believe it happened once, but now it s happened again and again and again. an air traffic controller sleeping on the job on an overnight shift. forcing a plane to land without any help from the tower. the latest incident just last night involved an air ambulance with a sick patient on board. today, that controller was suspended. wyatt andrews has the story. reporter: this time, the air traffic controller fell asleep in the control tower in reno, nevada, and this time, the pilot, flying a medical flight with an emergency patient on board, grew insistent as his urgent request to land met with only silence. we ve knot a pretty sick patient. we have to land. reporter: as the pilot then circled the airport, he reached the f.a.a. in california, which advised he was on his own. the pilot took that risk risk and airport officials argued all was well in the end. at no time and i want to stress at no time was safety compromised