By Allyson Versprille and Siddharth Philip
When the computer screens shut off without warning, the room erupted in panic. First came curses, then tears.
On April 28 at about 1.27 pm, the air traffic controllers monitoring the skies above New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport, which services New York, came face to face with their worst-case scenario: with radar and radio contact suddenly cut, they couldn’t communicate with the dozens of aircraft coming in or out of one of the most congested airspaces in the US.
The blackout sparked chaos inside air traffic control towers at Newark Airport last week.Credit: Bloomberg
Controllers braced for tragedy and destruction that some worried they’d be helpless to prevent, according to accounts of people familiar with the events. One person described workers in the room letting out curses and frustrated cries.
Then, about 90 seconds later, the power blinked back on as abruptly as it had vanished. No one was injured and no planes had crashed. But several controllers were left visibly shaken, with some crying, said one of the people, who were not authorised to speak publicly on the matter. One was suffering heart palpitations. Several had to leave their posts because the stress was too much to bear, further thinning out the ranks of an already strained command post.
United Airlines flight 1951 from Phoenix to Newark was on its approach into the airport when the radio feed relaying information from air traffic control went dead. The pilots paged for instructions and got nothing from the control tower.
As radio contact returned, a controller instructed another pilot to switch to visual navigation.
“We just lost our frequencies and radios for a minute everywhere so I think we’re just going to have to cut you loose to VFR ’cause we’re stopping everything in case that happens again,” the controller in the Newark air traffic control centre said, according to an archive of the radio communications from LiveATC.net posted onto YouTube by VASAviation.
The harrowing episode last week was a dramatic acceleration of the downward spiral the US air-traffic control ecosystem has suffered for years. Flight delays or outright cancellations, system outages and runway closures have put the spotlight on an industry suffering from staffing shortages, outdated technology and — in the case of Newark — questionable decisions to relocate some key functions that culminated in a blackout.
“It’s not just hyperbole that you have peoples’ lives in your hands, you do,” said Bob Mann, a former airline executive who now runs his own consulting business R.W. Mann & Company. “When you can’t see the traffic to manage it, that’s a problem.”
Some air traffic controllers were given time off under a leave program for workers who experience traumatic incidents, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association said. The group confirmed that controllers in the Philadelphia facility “temporarily lost radar and communications with the aircraft under their control, unable to see, hear, or talk to them.” Those affected are allowed to take as long as 45 days to recover.
The incident and resulting reduction in staffing contributed to more than a week of flight disruptions at Newark. United Airlines cut 35 daily round trips at the key hub, its biggest for international departures and a primary gateway for domestic travel. Delta Air Lines also trimmed flights over the air traffic control issues.
As sudden and surprising as the blackout might have been, the warning lights had flashed for some time. The Federal Aviation Administration is currently about 3000 air traffic controllers short of desired levels and some existing employees say they are at a breaking point. Anecdotes of copper wire, floppy disks and other fossil technology still in everyday use at control towers are commonplace.
Since April 26, an average of 39 flights per day have been cancelled at Newark and on-time departures have fallen to 63 per cent, far below industry norms, according to aviation data firm Cirium. The radar issues add to an already complicated environment with one of Newark’s runways closed for maintenance until mid-June.
‘It’s not just hyperbole that you have peoples’ lives in your hands, you do. When you can’t see the traffic to manage it, that’s a problem.’
Bob Mann, a former airline executive who now runs his own consulting business R.W. Mann & Co
“It’s unacceptable,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement on X after visiting the Philadelphia site earlier this month. “We are working to harden the system.”
Until the middle of last year, the team overseeing Newark had worked out of New York and comprised more than 30 controllers, according to people familiar with the matter. Then mid last year, the Newark sector of the so-called New York Terminal Radar Approach Control facility was moved to Philadelphia.
On the face of it, the plan to disentangle Newark from New York operations aimed to improve dangerously low staffing levels. Instead, things only got worse. The team in Philadelphia is down closer to 20 people — not counting workers on leave, the people familiar with the matter said. The FAA didn’t respond to requests from Bloomberg about the staffing levels.
Some air-traffic controllers have gone as far as suggesting that flying into Newark is no longer safe, and that it’s only a matter of time until an accident occurs.
The FAA, for its part, sought to sound less alarmed after the incident.
“When staffing or equipment issues occur, the FAA will ensure safety by slowing the rate of arrivals into the airport,” the regulator said on Monday after Bloomberg News reported on the details of the blackout. The FAA is “working to ensure the current telecommunications equipment is more reliable in the New York area,” the agency said.
The incident and resulting reduction in staffing contributed to more than a week of flight disruptions at Newark.Credit: Bloomberg
Duffy plans to release his proposal later in the week for a new FAA system to manage the roughly 45,000 US flights that carry about 2.9 million passengers each day. He has also announced steps to boost hiring, including a slate of new bonuses.
For now, air traffic has intentionally been slowed at Newark, Duffy said Monday. And while radio outages do occur, there’s rarely a complete failure.
“When you have a radar outage, there really is very little that can be done,” said Mann. “You don’t know what’s developing in the meantime.”
Bloomberg
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