mr. rinaldi in twen. i don't think in all of my time in public service has more of a frightening session, kind of getting air traffic control 101 in terms of the potentialway wave of retirees, the challenges of attracting new folks. the ability to get through training periods. the ability to track people to stay in this profession. the antiquated equipment and the need to move to nextgen. i think you all do a good job. we need to constantly be vigilant. i guess i would ask you first if there is anything else. the remarkable thing is a lot of the things he said in twevb have all kind of come to pass and i don't think a lot of our folks around the country would know how close to edge. a whole lot of new people were hired. they had run through their cycle. you missed the first round of questions in your first round of testimony. hopefully not anymore. predictions that -- similar to what you make in 2007. >> thank you, senator. unfortunately i think that there is a lag in the system. i didn't mean to this my

mr. rinaldi. dr. belenky thank you for being here and which look forward to your testimony. >> thank you, distinguishes members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify on fleet fatigue and performance in air-traffic controllers. i'm gregory belenky. i'm a physician by training and research profession and director of the sleep and performance research center at washington state university. i joined wsu in 2004. prior to that i served for 29 years on active duty in u.s. army to develop systems managing sleep and sustain performance in military operations. at wsu we're continuing this work studying sleep and performance in operational environments, operational environments which if the human fails, the system fails. chairman cantwell it is important for the subcommittee with the critical role in safety which air-traffic controllers inadvertently fallen asleep or deliberately napped on shift. questions abound in one extreme. is this a moral failing on the part of a few air-traffi