A 39 -year -old New York was the only air traffic traffic controller in service for Newark Liberty International Airport when the system was on May 9, leaving the planes blocked in the air for 90 seconds.
The incident, one of the multiple power failures that hit the airport, left it so traumatized that it is on leave.
Speaking in detail for the first time, but anonymously for fear of criticism from the members of the public, she tells the Times How her worst nightmare took place and why she fears that it is the start of the crisis of the second busiest American airport.
Just before 4 am on May 9, I was sitting at my office at air traffic control for Newark, the only operator on the bridge.
It was my last Late change of the week, and I felt tired, but I tried to stay alert. Then the unthinkable occurred.
Suddenly, all my frequencies have cut. Then my radar telescope was dark and I could no longer see the dozens of planes that had sprinkled my screen a few seconds earlier. I had no way to follow where one of the four planes I had spoken was and I had no way to reach them.
“Oh no,” I thought. “It happens again.”
Like dodging mines without mine detector
On April 28, we had a 90 -second communication failure so frightening that five of my colleagues controller found themselves over 45 days of trauma leave. Being without eyes or ears in the control of air traffic for a minute and a half is absolutely terrifying. But now, I was alone, faced with the same fate.
Visibility in Newark has also been assigned by weather conditions in recent weeks
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During a 90 -second electricity failure, anything can happen. In the past, I have gone out of planes, then I immediately transform into airspace above Laguardia airport nearby. An aircraft can also go from 2,000 feet to 4,500 feet during this period, which is extremely risky in our congestioned airspace where small planes practiced maneuvers, especially during the summer. Being in control without any of our signals is like trying to dodge mines without mine detector.
That night, the only other person in service was my supervisor, but he did not really work on air traffic – his work essentially consists in reacting if something is wrong, in particular by making calls to other air facilities. It is only because I have been doing this job for 16 years that I knew how to act. I found a radar telescope which, miraculously, always seemed to work, and I managed to reconnect with the starting plane where I had spoken a few seconds before the dropout.
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After 90 seconds, all the frequencies returned and I recovered contact with the four plans. But we did not know if communications were going to be lost. (Another power outage occurred only two days after my quarter work, May 11)
Do I think it’s sure? Let me say it like that …
I was so shaken by the incident, I was put in stress out of stress the next day and I am being psychological. I have not returned to work – but it also concerns me, because it means that there are even fewer controllers who manage the sky around Newark.
Do I think it is prudent to fly from or at the airport? Let me say it as this: I deliberately avoid my own airport when booking flights, even if the alternatives are more expensive and less practical. If Newark air traffic control problems are not resolved, I believe that it is only a matter of time before having a fatal accident between two planes.
The troubles began last summer when the government forced Newark air controllers to leave our central center in Long Island, which previously supervised the planes to the three New York – Newark, Laguardia and JFK – airports – where we are now in Philadelphia.
Relocation, designed to facilitate congestion along the northeast corridor, has endangered our ability to lead the aircraft of the second busiest American airport, which manages more than 1,000 flights per day, including a dozen from the United Kingdom.
An snapshot of live flight data and control towers on the northeast of the United States around 10am on May 20
Flightradar24
Under relocation, not everyone was forced to move to Philadelphia. Some of my colleagues stayed in Long Island and rather cover JFK and Laguardia. This means that our team has gone from around 30 to 24 certified controllers, which is not enough to provide 24/7 coverage for Newark. My colleagues and I agree that we need at least 40 controllers for the airport.
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Rest Days of “Fatigue Departments”
In recent months, when this has been particularly busy, Newark controllers have been forced to work both a dozen planes. This makes it almost impossible to communicate reliably with pilots, who will interrupt transmissions from each other as they fly more and more, where they will speak to other air traffic controls, and by radio to obtain advice. Things can become very heated.
If it was not for my other colleagues who signed “fatigue referrals” that cut their rest days, or taking quarter -hour work, control of Newark air traffic would have withdrawn now.
At the same time, we have experienced repeated power outages in Philadelphia due to poor technology. We warned the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) that the system would be exceeded if the infrastructure and the equipment were not widened, but they did not listen. Instead, they used underground wiring to redirect the data that take place on Long Island to our screens here. It is transformed into a large flow relay, but this has led to an overload of bandwidth and mass failures.
Everyone in my team has experienced communications failure of a variable gravity since this decision. There must have been at least a dozen in the past ten months. Each occurrence leaves us sick and seriously burned. About a third of Newark controllers are on trauma leave following the crisis.
Only a few days ago, my colleague spoke publicly of an incident during which two planes under his control stole from nose to nose at the same altitude and would probably have collided if the communications had abandoned 90 seconds. Fortunately, he managed to avoid the disaster. But like many others here, it was put on trauma leave linked to stress later because this incident finally took it over the edge. It remains outside of work to date.
It’s only going to get worse
Being clear, what my colleagues and colleagues are invited to do is dangerous and we put in a terrible position. None of us want to be responsible for the death of hundreds of people. I want to come back as soon as I am good enough to come back. The operation definitely needs me, but I also recognize that the increased anxiety that I feel made of me a lower controller and a shell of myself. When I return, I want to come back to the full capacity so that I can do the good of the flying public.
Staff shortages will only get worse. More than a dozen staff members have been informed that they could return to the main traffic control at Long Island next summer, while three should soon retire. I am concerned that we must bring controllers of quieter parties of the country which are not qualified to manage the high volume of traffic in our airspace.
We have been saying to the FAA for months that we have been running too much, but it was only after the bad press that they decided to reduce the number of flights allowed to arrive in Newark. Currently, we manage about 22 aircraft per hour during our busiest periods – against 38. But once the titles stop, I would not be surprised if it comes back to how it was. The FAA cares more about keeping the airlines happy.
My experiences in Newark left me so desperate. I thought security was essential, but I am shocked by the way the corners are cut behind our back. I do not write this because I want our working conditions to improve – which, of course, I do it – but to lift the alarm. If the authorities do not repair this waste immediately, people will pay with their lives.
FAA’s response:
“In August 2020, due to the critical staff deficits in New York Tracon (Terminal Radar Approach Control), the FAA provided the National Air Traffic Controlrs Association with an official opinion of the decision to realign the responsibility of the Newark air space at Philadelphie Tracon.
“Immediately after successful negotiations between FAA and Natca on the realignment of airspace, the agency created a collaborative working group with the union to resolve the implementation problems and included the joint development of advanced simulation training and the design of a high -fidelity training laboratory to Philadelphia installations.
“The FAA has more than 74,000 equipment in the national airspace system. Each air traffic control installation has an emergency plan to ensure security, and we have integrated redundancies, rescue systems and procedures in the case of system, weather or other unforeseen event.
Newark airport has been contacted to comment.
