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But apparently a public humiliation and the end of a career is the vestige of older traditions incorporating human sacrifice.  The sleep-deprivation/asleep at work/understaffed air traffic control centers issue is serious. This ritual suggests that person or persons higher on the food chain believe the public sufficiently credulous, enraged, afraid or overwhelmed that this will derail any requests for an accounting of what happened and how to prevent it – whether or not it fits neatly into a “Blame [insert name here]” template. From FAA head of air traffic resigns, byAshley Halsey III at WaPo:

The head of the Air Traffic Organization at the Federal Aviation Administration resigned Thursday morning amid recent reports of several controllers sleeping on the job. Hank Krakowski submitted his resignation Thursday morning to FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt, who said he accepted it, federal officials said. Krawkoski joined the FAA in 2007. Prior to that he spent about 30 years at United Air Lines in senior management positions, including as vice president of flight operations. “Hank is a dedicated aviation professional and I thank him for his service,” Babbitt said in a statement. “Starting today, I have asked David Grizzle, FAA’s chief counsel, to assume the role of acting ATO chief operating officer while we conduct a nationwide search to permanently fill the position.” Babbitt said recent reports of “unprofessional conduct on the part of a few individuals have rightly caused the traveling public to question our ability to ensure their safety.” On Wednesday federal officials ended the practice of leaving one controller on duty in airport towers during overnight shifts. The FAA also revealed that a Nevada air traffic controller allegedly fell asleep Wednesday morning as a medical flight carrying a patient tried to land.The plane landed safely at Reno-Tahoe International Airport with the help of a radar controller based in California, the FAA said. The controller was suspended and the incident is under investigation. However, the incident Wednesday was the fifth time this year that a controller apparently slept while on duty, including at Reagan National Airport, where a controller supervisor was suspended last month after he admitted to napping in the tower . The FAA plans to conduct a “top to bottom review” of the nation’s air traffic control system, Babbitt said. Babbitt announced last month that he was revamping air traffic control guidelines. He ordered radar controllers who guide planes as they descend from cruising altitude to confirm that controllers in airport towers are prepared to handle incoming flights before handing them off. Babbitt also said he would instruct controllers to offer the pilots an option to land elsewhere if a control tower is unresponsive for any reason.

Let’s hope that some reasonable and substantive change comes out of this.