Djiboutian Air Traffic controllers "chew khat while on duty. At night, they sleep while pilots call out for landing"

:dead: at the antics our of fellow Somali's in Djbouti. I like that they don't tolerate disrespect from foreigners.

Washington Post link



Controllers have been known to force pilots they believe disrespected them to circle the field until they’re dangerously low on fuel. During the day, controllers chew khat, a stimulant that’s banned in the United States. At night, they sleep while pilots call out for landing instructions.

Documents obtained by The Washington Post show that the air traffic controllers, civilians who work for the Djibouti government, regularly nap, listen to music, play video games and text on their mobile phones while directing military traffic from several nations, as well as civilian traffic from major world airlines. Many of the controllers are also resentful of the foreign presence in their country.

“Literally, it’s the most dangerous airspace I’ve seen in the world, and I’ve been to Afghanistan,” one Federal Aviation Administration official who spent a year in Djibouti told the Post.

The Djiboutians particularly dislike drones. At one point, the U.S. military had to move drone operations to a remote strip elsewhere in the country because the controllers would refuse to give them permission to use the runway because they thought them unreliable and blamed the drones for the deaths of fellow Muslims.

The U.S. government has tried to improve the conditions at Djibouti, hiring a consultant to retrain the tower personnel. The effort collapsed after the Djiboutians stopped showing up for classes and locked the American trainers out of the flight tower. In another incident, a U.S. Navy officer was threatened by controllers with a pipe.

"Unlike other major U.S. military bases around the world, Camp Lemonnier is wholly dependent on civilian air-traffic controllers, hired by the government of Djibouti to keep the skies safe."

:sass1: Much respect to Djbouti for having control over their airspace.
 
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:dead: at the antics our of fellow Somali's in Djbouti. I like that they don't tolerate disrespect from foreigners.

Washington Post link









"Unlike other major U.S. military bases around the world, Camp Lemonnier is wholly dependent on civilian air-traffic controllers, hired by the government of Djibouti to keep the skies safe."

:sass1: Much respect to Djbouti for having control over their airspace.



Much respect for that. Don't let anyone punk you, especially on your own land. However... I really wish Djibouti didn't have any foreign military bases/presence there, to be honest. I understand it has limited resources to generate revenue, but, man ..
 
Much respect for that. Don't let anyone punk you, especially on your own land. However... I really wish Djibouti didn't have any foreign military bases/presence there, to be honest. I understand it has limited resources to generate revenue, but, man ..

Djbouti doesn't play games with the $$ it makes from military bases. It's strategic of them to host multiple militaries that not only give them $$$ but protection from other larger countries interfering with their politics or borders. The United States used to pay $30 million annualy to lease the land they have their military base on. Djboutian officials played them and leaked that they were having talks with Russia to allow them to open a base. The U.S military doubled their rent to $60 million so that Djbouti wouldn't lease to Russia. Djbouti then went right behind their back and leased to an even larger enemy, China. U.S military threatened to leave, but Djbouti called their bluff and they just shut up and calmed down lol.

Then China tried to call shots with Djbouti and got put in its place.

PLA officers (Peoples Liberation Army) complained to their Djiboutian counterparts that U.S. and other foreign aircraft were intentionally flying directly over their new base for surveillance purposes. When commanders at Lemonnier explained that approach vectors were set by Djiboutian air traffic control (and based on geographic realities), PLA officers reportedly refused to believe the U.S. military would take direction from Djiboutian civil authorities. In response, the Chinese requested not only changes to the vectors but special airspace restrictions both around and above their base. Concerned that Djiboutian authorities might set a precedent by acquiescing to the demand, Western military, diplomatic, and commercial actors organized to privately express their reservations to the host government. In the end, the Djiboutians denied the request and granted the PLA the same airspace protections afforded to other foreign military bases.


 
Free Archive of Washington Times Article

After some incentives were dangled — free lunch and a free iPad if they completed the course — the Djiboutians agreed to attend some classroom seminars. But attendance dwindled after they insisted on cash payments instead of lunch. Some controllers wanted the money to buy khat, which they used in a break room in the tower, the documents show.

Issa Saher Bouraleh, a counselor at the Djiboutian Embassy in Washington, said the reports of controllers sleeping on the job, using khat and leaving the tower unattended were invented or exaggerated.

“That’s nonsense,” he said in an interview. “I’m sure that the airport is safe. It is more safe than other Arab countries.” If controllers were really sleeping on the tower floor or hooked on khat, he added, “there would be accidents every day.”

Navy Capt. Matthew P. O’Keefe, the commanding officer of Camp Lemonnier, played down the risks cited in the documents, saying they did not reflect current conditions.
He said the U.S. military had built a good relationship with Djiboutian officials but could not “impose our will on our partners” or on how they manage their airspace.


:mybusiness: :russ:
 
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Aurelian

Forza Somalia!
VIP
the air traffic controllers, civilians who work for the Djibouti government, regularly nap, listen to music, play video games and text on their mobile phones while directing military traffic from several nation
Wow
 

Basra

LOVE is a product of Doqoniimo mixed with lust
Let Them Eat Cake
VIP
:dead: at the antics our of fellow Somali's in Djbouti. I like that they don't tolerate disrespect from foreigners.

Washington Post link









"Unlike other major U.S. military bases around the world, Camp Lemonnier is wholly dependent on civilian air-traffic controllers, hired by the government of Djibouti to keep the skies safe."

:sass1: Much respect to Djbouti for having control over their airspace.


There is a black shadow following u @Magan95
 
:pachah1:

I swear I was going to post this exact article a couple weeks ago, laughed for a good minute and my respect for Djboutians went up tremendously :salute:



The Djiboutians particularly dislike drones. At one point, the U.S. military had to move drone operations to a remote strip elsewhere in the country because the controllers would refuse to give them permission to use the runway because they thought them unreliable and blamed the drones for the deaths of fellow Muslims.
 

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