The disaster at New Jersey’s Newark Liberty Worldwide Airport has not solely been within the making for years, but it surely’s simply “one of many volcanoes waiting to erupt,” in line with American Airways Capt. Dennis Tajer.
Tajer, a pilot for over 30 years, is considered one of many aviation consultants who informed FOX Enterprise that the air site visitors management system has been below immense stress for years given the persisting staffing shortages, outdated know-how and underinvestment in essential infrastructure.
“We’ve seen an uptick in serious runway incursions that could have been prevented with modern technology and proper staffing,” Tajer mentioned.
Newark “is getting the attention in part due to the volume of traffic in a tight airspace, but these issues are the undertow across the system,” he added.
These shortfalls got here into focus final week when air site visitors controllers on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) facility in Philadelphia misplaced radar and radio communications whereas directing planes to Newark, the second-busiest airport within the New York airport system, for almost 90 seconds.
It led to vital delays and flight cancellations.
Air site visitors controllers on the Philadelphia TRACON facility work on Newark arrivals and departures.
Apart from the longstanding points with the air site visitors management system, Newark’s challenges have been additional strained by ongoing building on the airport, which leaves it quickly working with solely considered one of two parallel runways.
Regardless, Tajer mentioned there isn’t a query that operations are nonetheless protected, saying that pilots “will never allow the safety margin to be narrowed no matter the cause.”
Stephen Abraham, a former air site visitors controller at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, agreed, telling FOX Enterprise that regardless of the system being “stretched,” he would by no means name it unsafe.
“Unsafe means controllers are making mistakes. And I think if you look nationwide, the system is incredibly safe,” Abraham mentioned.
In accordance with Abraham and Tajer, controllers will at all times restrict the quantity of site visitors to make sure security.
The FAA additionally confirmed to FOX Enterprise that when staffing or tools points happen, like at Newark, the company will guarantee security by slowing the speed of arrivals into the airport.
“Pilots and air traffic controllers do not operate in unsafe conditions. It’s our moral and professional committee to our passengers and country,” Tajer mentioned. “We certainly understand that person’s alarm and agree that the safety margin is under pressure, but easing that pressure is what the system and airlines are wired to do, and that keeps us safe.”
Nonetheless, Tajer mentioned that infrastructure failures – stemming from the shortage of recent know-how and insufficient planning for staffing wants – are “a betrayal of the stakeholder safety culture.”
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates Newark airport, deferred remark to the FAA.
The FAA informed FOX Enterprise in a press release that the “antiquated air traffic control system is affecting our workforce.” The company reiterated Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s message that the U.S. “must get the best safety technology in the hands of controllers as soon as possible.”
Duffy introduced a brand new set of initiatives final week geared toward boosting the hiring and retention of air site visitors controllers, together with a limited-time incentive package deal to maintain skilled controllers from retiring.
The FAA mentioned additionally it is working to make sure the present telecommunications tools within the New York space is extra dependable by growing a extra resilient and redundant system with the native cellphone corporations within the occasion one thing fails.
The company mentioned additionally it is updating its automation system to enhance resiliency.
The FAA mentioned some controllers who work Newark arrivals and departures have taken day without work to get better “from the stress of multiple recent outages.”
Whereas the company mentioned it may well’t substitute them shortly as a result of it’s a “highly specialized profession,” it may well hold coaching controllers who will ultimately be assigned to the busy airspace.
