A veteran controller of air trafficking in the installation that manages thefts in and outside Newark Liberty International Airport requires more resources and talks about the intense pressures that workers face in the middle of an endowment shortage and technological breakdowns.
“It’s like playing 3D chess at 250 miles on time,” Jonathan Stewart told Wall Street Journal in a recent interview. “Like anything else, you will have a breakdown.”
Stewart oversees the Radar Approach Control Installation of the Philadelphia (Tracon) terminal that manages flights in the direction or from the very busy airport. A meeting of airlines and FAA managers is underway on Friday to discuss the reduction in the number of flights to Newark after the delays and cancellations of the last weeks supplied by the construction of the track, congestion and the damage of the endowment to control of air traffic.
The same Tracon installation also experienced power outages on April 28 and May 9 which involved the loss of radar and white screens.
Stewart is one of several traffic controllers on trauma leave, including some that have been shaken by power outages, which left them unable to speak to planes or see where they were.
“I don’t want to be responsible for killing 400 people,” he told the newspaper.
His testimony is one of the first public accounts of overworked American controllers and in sub-employment, which are fighting against downward working conditions, alongside aging infrastructure and obsolete technology. The problems of control of the towers and installations cover current stress passengers on a series of technological breakdowns, close calls and fatal accidents.
Stewart – who wrote airplane calls in a notebook fearing another power failure – said he had avoided a potential outdoor collision between two planes flying from facelift to the same altitude on May 4, the newspaper reported.
At the start around 6:10 pm, the local time of May 4 of Morristown Municipal Airport in New Jersey – about 30 miles from Manhattan – a Gulfstream business plane and a Pilatus PC -12 plane in conflict, “causing a temporary separation loss,” FAA told CNN. The Gulfstream driver received the correct instructions for the controllers, he said.
Feeling shaken after the appeal, Stewart said he had sent an e-mail to FAA directors criticizing their leadership and was now speaking to put the records on the controllers, the newspaper reported.
Although the controllers that manage Newark air space are Elite, they need more resources to be able to do their job, Stewart told the newspaper.
Five controllers took a trauma leave of 45 days after the April 28 breakdown caused its winner for 90 seconds and their radios came out for 30 seconds during the loaded afternoon.
Thirty -eight certified professional controllers are necessary to use the installation, but only 24 of the positions – 63% – are currently filled, according to the FAA. Sixteen of these controllers are expected to return to an installation of the New York FAA next year.
The challenges abound in Newark
During the April 28 incident in Newark, a primary telecommunications line failed and a backup line was not launched, said Deputy Director of FAA, Franklin McIntosh said on Wednesday at a Senate hearing.
The data lines were installed after the installation moved from New York to Philadelphia in July. Similar systems are used in the United States, said McIntosh, who recognized the staff tight in Tracon, of which only three controllers working all the arrivals and departures of Newark for more than an hour on Monday evening.
Two similar incidents took place at Newark Airport in the last week. Sunday morning, the FAA said it had implemented a ground stop for flights to Newark due to a “telecommunications problem”. Early in the morning of May 9, another 90 -second radar failure occurred.
The white screens of the moment inside the installation of Philadelphia Tracon returned online during the May 9 breakdown were captured in video obtained by CBS News. CNN has not been able to independently check its authenticity.
The installation of Philadelphia, in part, guides the planes approaching Newark airport before removing the airport tower planes, and this guides the planes that have just left the airport.
The authorities worked to meet Newark’s challenges. The FAA has created an “emergency working group” to ensure that the airport operates safely, said its interim administrator Chris Rocheleau.
And this week, the agency launched the “delays reduction meeting” with the main airlines in the hope that carriers will accept to limit flights before the summer season loaded to minimize cancellations and delays at the airport. United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Spirit Airlines and Allegiant Air all participated.
As for the shortage of staff, the staff will be increased in the establishment of Philadelphia, and there is a “healthy pipeline” of the training courses filled until next July, said FAA.
But the hiring and the maintenance of the controllers were difficult. The current shortage of air traffic controllers is close to a 30 -year hollow, according to the National Air Traffic Cuellers Association, which represents 10,800 certified air traffic controllers across the country.
The installation of control responsible for traffic in Newark has been “in chronic sub-employment for years,” said United Airlines CEO, Scott Kirby on delays. The shortage was aggravated by more than 20% of FAA controllers who “left work” last week at Newark airport, he said.
Stewart said the controllers had not “left work” and are not to be blamed for recent delays, the newspaper reported, adding security events may not be stressful at the start but may have a cumulative effect.
Alexandra Skores of CNN, Pete Muntean, René Marsh and Aaron Cooper contributed to this report.
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