The air traffic controllers that direct airplanes to Newark airports, New Jersey, briefly lost their radar on Friday morning for the second time in two weeks, renewing concerns about the old nation’s air traffic control system that President Donald Trump wants to review.
The Federal Aviation Administration said that the radar at the Philadelphia facilities that leads the airplanes inside and outside Newark airport became black for 90 seconds at 3:55 am on Friday. That is similar to what happened in April 28.
That first radar interruption led to hundreds of flights canceled or delayed in Newark airport in the last two weeks after FAA slowed traffic at the airport to ensure safety. Five controllers also took trauma after that interruption, worsening the existing shortage. It is not clear if an additional controller will go on a license now.
The number of cancellations and delays shot after the limited traffic of FAA in Newark and has been high since then. The FAA plans to speak with all the airlines that leave Newark about cutting their schedules while the problems of personnel and technology persist.
The number of cancellations on Friday morning decreased around 40 departures and arrivals, but increased after radar interruption and an interruption related to the current construction of the track. At the end of the day, 68 exits and arrivals had been canceled in Newark, and more than 400 delays were reported.
The White House Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said in an informative session on Friday that the “Glitch This Morning in Newark” was caused by the same problems as last week.
Newark’s latest problems reinforce the need for multimillionaire plan The Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, announced Thursday to replace the old nation’s air traffic control system, Leavitt said. The plan is designed to prevent such problems from happening and to provide modern technology controllers. More than 4,600 new high -speed connections would be installed and 618 radars would be replaced throughout the country.
The officials developed the plan to update the system after a Mortal air collision In January, between a passenger plane and an army helicopter, he killed 67 people in the heavens on Washington, DC Several other accidents This year he also pressed officials to act.
But the deficiencies of the air traffic control system have been known for decades. The National Transport Security Board has not determined that a problem with the air traffic control system caused that accident near the Reagan National Airport.
These radar interruptions in such a busy airspace are alarming because the latter are important, but the spokesman of the Association of Allied pilots, Captain Dennis Tajer, said: “It is not an imminent disaster that some suggest.”
“The system is connected to work really well when everything works. But the most important part is that it is prepared to work when things go wrong,” Tajer said. “Even when it sounds scary, know that air traffic controllers and pilots have training and we are going to that.”
When the pilots lose contact with the controllers, their first action is to continue in their last directed path, but if the interruption continues, the pilots will begin to transmit their position to any other plane in the area, as well as the pilots in small airports that do not have a control tower.
The American representative Josh Gottheimer blamed the problems that have affected Newark to the lack of adequate personnel of the air traffic controller and modern technology. He said at a press conference on Friday that there are currently about 20 controllers working, and that number should be in the 60s. And many of the lines that connect controllers with the radar are obsolete copper cables. He said that April 28 was caused by one of those copper cables that are fried.
“Our region is a key economic artery for our country. However, this region … one of the most busy air spaces in the world, as I mentioned, is to run from a tower full of copper wire that dates back to the 1980s with outdated and inefficient technology. And the region is short, and this is a big problem. The region is cut about 40 air traffic controllers,” said Gottheimer. He said the tower was built again in “The Brady Bunch was” in 1973.
FAA said earlier this week that it is installing new fiber optic data lines to carry the radar signal between its facilities in Philadelphia and New York. The authorities said that some of the lines that connect these two facilities are obsolete copper wires that will be replaced. But it is not clear how fast these repairs can be completed.
The American senator Chuck Schumer in New York said it is important that FAA obtains the problems that affect the Newark airport solved quickly.
“Enough is sufficient. The connection between the New York Air Space and the Philadelphia air traffic control center must be solved now. The backup system that does not work must be solved. Now,” said Schumer. “This is an air travel security emergency that requires immediate and decisive action, not a promise of a large and beautiful non -financed review that will have been implemented for years.”
