They say that things "come in three's", births, deaths, and apparently sleeping air traffic controllers!  Our third known incident, and fifth to be reported by the FAA since late March 2011 occurred just before 5am Saturday morning 4-9-11 at a busy regional radar facility.  This particular facility handles high altitude traffic for much of Florida, portions of the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.

According to a preliminary review of traffic tapes, the controller in question did not miss any calls from aircraft and there was no impact on flight operations, the FAA said.  Of course the controller who was working an overnight shift has been suspended.  So #1 for me that means NO MORE RED EYES, and #2, is this problem a direct result of the firing of the controllers by Reagan inthe 80's, or, a result of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, or is there another reason?