Recent chronic delays and cancellations at New Jersey's largest airport highlight the lack of air traffic controllers and aging equipment that President Donald Trump's administration wants to replace.
The Federal Aviation Administration is working on short-term fixes to the Newark Airport issue, including technical repairs and reductions that make it easy to manage traffic, while addressing a controller shortage. Authorities will meet with all airlines flying from Newark starting Wednesday to discuss plans.
But even before those issues, aviation has already been in the spotlight since the fatality Air collision A passenger jet and a US Army helicopter above Washington, DC in January, and a series of other crashes and accidents since then. The investigation into these crashes continues, but the US Department of Transport does not have enough air traffic controllers; Outdated equipment. The US Senate hearing Wednesday morning will focus on the FAA efforts.
What happened in Newark?
Two times in the last two and a half weeks, the radar and communications system in which Philadelphia air traffic controllers direct Newark to and from Newark has been a short-lived failure. This happened because a line carrying radar signals from another FAA facility in New York failed and the backup system failed to function immediately.
Therefore, the controller was unable to talk to the plane for 90 seconds with the plane around Newar Liberty International Airport. April 28th and May 9th. Line – part of it was an old copper wire, but it failed for the third time on Sunday, but at that point the backup system worked and the radar stayed online.
However, one of these stressful situations encouraged five to seven controllers to take 45 days of trauma leave, which exacerbated the existing staff shortage at the Philadelphia control facility, prompting the FAA to limit the number of flights in Newark every day.
The FAA currently has 22 fully certified air traffic controllers and five supervisors assigned to Newark at its Philadelphia facility, but the agency wants 38 controllers there. Another 21 controllers are training there, of which 10 have been certified in at least some parts of the region.
What happened in Newark?
The FAA has quickly limited the number of flights in Newark to the same number of departures as 24-28 arrivals, making it possible for the remaining controllers to handle them safely. When controller staffing is particularly lean, like on Monday, the FAA is further restricting traffic. Before the issue, flights 38 or 39 take off and land in Newark every hour.
FAA officials will focus on plans to continue limiting takeoffs and landings to less than an hour until at least mid-June, at meetings with all airlines starting Wednesday. By then, the runway construction project needs to be concluded, and controllers who have taken traumatic leave are scheduled to return. The FAA then said it could potentially raise the limit to 34 arrivals and 34 departures per hour.
On the other hand, airports cannot handle everyone on their schedule, so they need to reduce the number of flights per day. That's why Newark has generally led the country with cancellations and delays in recent weeks. The FAA will not make a decision by May 28th as information will be submitted in writing for several weeks after meeting with the airline.
The FAA has been able to install new fiber optic lines at Newark Airport and two other major airports in the New York area, Kennedy International and LaGuardia, but they are still being tested and will not be online until the end of the month. Authorities were able to update some computer software last week I held the radar Primary Line's third offline Sunday It failed again.
In the long run, the FAA is also planning to build a new radar system in Philadelphia, so controllers there will no longer have to resort to signals piped down from New York. But that may not happen for months, but the authorities are working with contractors to speed up the project.
Would you like to hire more controllers?
The FAA has long worked to hire more air traffic controllers to trade retirees and handle growing air traffic. However, finding good candidates for stressful positions can be difficult and it takes years to train your controller.
Transport Secretary Sean Duffy made several moves to hire more controllers. The FAA is trying to reduce the time it takes between when someone applies to the Air Traffic Controller Academy in Oklahoma City and when they start. Candidates with the highest scores in the entrance exam are also given priority.
The FAA offers bonuses to experienced controllers if they choose to retire early and continue working to ease the shortage.
More high-tech simulators are also being used at airports across the country, including Newark, to train air traffic controllers. The FAA said Tuesday that controllers tend to complete their training more quickly when they use one of the 111 simulators.
“These new simulators provide air traffic control trainees with a high-tech space to learn, develop and implement skills,” said Chris Rochero, acting manager.
What about outdated equipment?
The Transportation Agency plans to ask Congress for billions and billions of dollars for overhauling air traffic control systems across the country to replace the 618 radar, install 4,600 new high speed connections, and upgrade computer controllers to all computer controllers. The exact price tag has not been determined.
Duffy accused former President Joe Biden of his administration of failing to upgrade its air traffic control system, but first realized Congress was struggling to keep up with the rise in flights dating back to the 1990s. Biden's former Transportation Secretary Pete Battigigue has defended efforts to upgrade some of the technology and expand employment of air traffic controllers.
Some of the decades-old computer equipment that relies on controllers were on display at a press conference on plans last week. Duffy uses a colorful assortment of metaphors to highlight the age of the equipment, saying that Gear appears to be falling off the set of the film “Apollo 13” and comparing it to the 1967 Volkswagen Beetle.
