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Although it is still disputed by obsolete technology and a shortage of chronic air traffic controller, Newark Liberty International Airport faces hundreds of flight disruptions on Wednesday due to something more banal: weather conditions.
In recent weeks, passengers flying and outside Newark airport have been prey to technology … More
Key facts
Newark Airport was under a ground stopping for more than an hour on Wednesday afternoon due to thunderstorms, according to the national airpace system system of the Federal Aviation Administration.
The main airlines met FAA officials on Wednesday at a summit to discuss the cap in the number of flights at Newark airport after equipment failures and staff shortages have triggered hundreds of flight disruption in recent weeks.
The FAA has created a working group with technology and telecommunications entrepreneurs to solve the technological problems that afflict Newark Liberty International Airport, which are caused by a failure of the relay system feeding New York data in Philadelphia, said the United States U.S. Transport Secretary, Sean Duffy, journalists on Monday afternoon.
In the past two weeks, Newark has experienced three equipment failures, including a breakdown of air traffic control equipment on Sunday, which lasted approximately 45 minutes and two telecommunications breakdowns on April 28 and 9, during which air controllers lost contact with planes they guided towards landing at the airport.
A “current veteran controller” who wanted not to be identified told NBC News that controllers guiding planes at Newark airport had lost radar contact with pilots “at least eight or nine times in recent months” and at least two other occasions since August.
What travelers should know if they fly through Newark:
After weeks of turbulence, some airlines emit travel exemptions allowing you to read a flight at no cost of change. United Airlines, for example, which has a large center of Newark, allows passengers to fly or leave the airport until May 23 to spend another day at no additional cost. The American Airlines travel alert covers the flights planned via Newark until May 14 and JetBlue Airways allows passengers the flexibility of flights planned via Newark until May 31. It’s always a good idea to download the application of your airline to monitor the status of your flight and register for text notifications. In the event of delay or cancellation, the application is often the fastest path to straighten another flight. Flightaware can let passengers know if your plane is on time. Enter the information on your flight, then click on “Where’s my plane now?” under the flight number. You can see if the plane is ahead of the calendar, on time or late and you can act accordingly.
Is it sure to fly?
FAA and National Transportation Safety Board officials insist that this is the case. On Monday, the CEO of United Airlines, Scott Kirby, wrote a note to customers to reassure them “each united pilot is formed for a wide range of potential problems, including radar or communication failures”, linking a video of the director general of the airline training center of the airline explaining what is happening if there is a loss of communication between air traffic controllers and drivers. “There are several layers of safety protocols in place, including additional installations that will provide radar services and a safe transfer to the installation of the tower in the event of equipment failure,” said Captain Miles Morgan in the video. “On the cockpit, we have advanced safety technology that allows drivers to see other planes around us.”
What is FAA doing to make sure the flight is safe at Newark airport?
To compensate for a shortage of air controllers and recent technological failures, the FAA manages the traffic flow in Newark with a “soil delay”, which limits the number of flights inside and outside the airport. In addition, United Airlines, \ reduced 35 round trips per day from its Newark Hub. Appearing on NBC’s “Meet The Press” on Sunday morning, Duffy said that Newark “100%” needed to reduce operations, noting: “We have fewer controllers working in Newark airspace at the moment.
Key
Newark Airport is faced with a perfect challenge storm, including unreliable technology at the Approach Control Tower (Tracon) terminal at Philadelphia International Airport, which is responsible for making planes in and outside Newark airport. In addition, the airport has a persistent shortage of air traffic controllers and a track closure. The air traffic controllers of Philadelphia Tracon worked with 22 fully certified controllers and 21 controllers and supervisors in training, but four air traffic controllers have been on trauma leave from the April 28 incident.
Who is to blame for the Newark airport crisis?
“The blame belongs to the last administration,” said Duffy to journalists, adding that his predecessor, Pete Buttegie and former President Joe Biden “did nothing to repair the system they knew how to be broken.” But the two major FAA problems – anticillé technology and a shortage of persistent air traffic controller – have obtained five administrations over more than two decades. In 2003, the George W. Bush administration launched a plan to establish NextGen, a computerized system to modernize air traffic control. But during the administrations of Obama, Trump and Biden, the initiative was mired by budgetary and logistical challenges and a culture of incrementalism. Similarly, the National Air Traffic Cuellers Association (NATCA) warned against a lack of controllers entirely certified for more than a decade, because the staff was hampered by repeated government closures and the COVID-19 pandemic, but the FAA is still short of 3,500 controllers.
Could air traffic control failures occur in other airports in addition to Newark?
“What you see in Newark will occur in other places across the country,” said Transport Secretary Sean Duffy during an interview on Sunday on “Meet The Press with Kristen Welker of NBC, adding:” I am concerned by the whole of the airspace “. Duffy characterized the equipment as safe, but old.
What is FAA doing to repair its obsolete technology?
Last week, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) unveiled a plan to upgrade the FAA communication system, the standard replacement system for terminal automation (stars). Telecommunications are currently aligning data from New York stars at the Tracon at Philadelphia International Airport, where controllers manage Newark arrivals and departures. The FAA plan consists in adding three new wide -band telecommunications connections between the stars based in New York and the Philadelphia Tracon “to provide more speed, reliability and redundancy”, and to establish a center of star at the Hub of Philadelphia Stars so that it no longer depends on a philadelphia telecommunications flow. Improvements will be implemented “in the coming weeks and others in the coming months, and at the end of the year,” said a FAA spokesperson in Forbes. Duffy called on Congress to allocate tens of billions of dollars to revise the America’s air traffic control system and replace its outdated technology. Duffy said his agency would build a new air traffic control system “in three to four years”, but that the Congress was needed to get there, adding: “We need all the money in advance”.
What is the FAA doing to respond to the shortage of air traffic controller?
The agency continues to be challenged by a shortage of aerial controllers for several decades. As little as three air traffic controllers had to work on Monday evening at Philadelphia Tracon, well below the target of 14 controllers, FAA told New York Times. In February, Duffy unveiled a plan to “overeat” the hiring of air traffic controllers to shave “more than four months of reduction on the old process”. But he can take almost four years to become a certified ATC, especially by spending several months at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City, then finishing up to three years of experienced experience before becoming certified, according to the FAA website.
Upon reading
Newark airport crisis: FAA announces an upgrading plan for the communication system (Forbes)
