Do you really feel safe?

Hrumph. Seems the war on terror isn’t just draining resources from FEMA, but also our air traffic control systems!

A marauding animal – most likely a raccoon – left feces on crucial equipment in the control tower of Long Island MacArthur Airport in Islip early yesterday, forcing air traffic controllers to guide planes from the ground in an emergency procedure that hasn’t been used in decades.

The airport remained open and there were no delays. But controllers spent 2 1/2 hours landing planes and clearing them for takeoff with only a partial view of the runway, using battery-powered backup communication devices.

The article linked above gives a devastating blow-by-blow account of the situation:

At 6 a.m., a controller who was opening the tower for the morning discovered animal feces on the handset, keyboard and monitor of his position, said Jim Wecht, the union representative for controllers at the tower, which closes at midnight.

“The coffee pot was overturned; there was garbage all over the place,” he said.

Shortly after 7 a.m., Wecht made the decision to close the tower until it could be properly cleaned. The controllers headed to the firehouse and followed emergency procedures for guiding aircraft.

“We could only see 20 percent of the field,” Wecht said, “but it was better than closing the airport.” One controller remained in the tower until the others could get situated in the firehouse.

By 9:34 a.m., maintenance crews from the airport and the Federal Aviation Administration had cleaned up the tower and the staff returned.