Cell Phones Banned for Air Traffic Controllers

Air traffic controllers were forced to use their personal cell phones to reroute hundreds of flights Tuesday after the Federal Aviation Administration's Memphis Center lost radar and telephone service for more than two hours, snarling air traffic in the middle of the nation, according to a CNN article.

Doug Church, a spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, called the cell phone usage "a major safety problem."

"Now we have all these cell phone usage charges that are going to appear on expense reports," said Church. "This unbudgeted activity at the end of the fiscal year is going to mess up my numbers," he complained. "Air Traffic Controller regulations clearly call for mobile phones to be turned off while airplanes are in flight."