Concern Raised Over Pranks by Person Posing as Air Controller

Two recent incidents in which someone posing as an air traffic controller radioed false instructions to pilots have raised concerns among industry experts, who say such pranks have the potential for disaster.

“It isn’t considered to be a major problem because it happens so infrequently,” Joann Sloane, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said Tuesday in Washington. “But when it happens, it’s very serious.”

In one of the two incidents here during the last two weeks, a commercial jetliner was sent into a premature descent by an impostor who cut in on aviation frequencies, the FAA said.

The misdirected descent was immediately corrected by an air traffic controller monitoring the plane’s course, said Jack Barker, regional spokesman for the FAA.

The culprit was familiar enough with airline terminology to fool the pilot and had access to a special transmitter that broadcasts on air controller frequencies. Barker refused to speculate whether the person was a former pilot or controller.

“The guy is an absolute nut,” said Larry Shulte, head of the Air Line Pilots Assn. in Miami. “It carries the potential of endangering lives . . . he’s got to be put in jail.”

The FAA declined to release any other details of either incident and refused to identify the airlines involved. The false transmissions are under investigation and no one has been charged.

The agency has sent notices warning pilots and controllers of the transmissions, Barker said.

The FBI and the Federal Communications Commission are helping track the violator, Barker said.