A new software update avoided a third radar interruption in the last two weeks at the New Jersey Newark airport when a telecommunications line failed again During the weekend, The Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said Monday.
At a press conference, Duffy also said that the recent problems that have led to hundreds of cancellations and delays in Newark could have avoided whether the administration of President Joe Biden has taken an action to better equip air traffic control facilities in Philadelphia, particularly after problems with the hardware in October and November that should have activated alarms.
Duffy said the Federal Aviation Administration update installed on Friday night helped to ensure that the backup system worked on Sunday when there was another problem with the main line that entered the air traffic control installation in Philadelphia. When a similar problem occurred Friday and April 28The radar and communications systems were briefly disconnected, leaving the controllers unable to see or talk to the planes.
The FAA restricted traffic to Newark Liberty International Airport after the first incident, partly because several air traffic controllers came out in trauma that come out later, worsening the staff already short. Those limits, designed to keep safe flights, combined with a project to build ongoing catwalks in Newark, led to all cancellations and delays. At the end of this week, FAA will meet with all airlines to discuss that these limits last in the summer.
Although the radar system remained online on Sunday, the controllers were worried due to the two previous interruptions, so Duffy said they stopped all the traffic at Newark airport for about 45 minutes as caution.
Duffy said he will request an investigation into last year’s movement of Newark air traffic controlle from New York to Philadelphia to determine why they were not done more to ensure that there were no problems. Philadelphia is about 85 miles (137 kilometers) southwest of Newark.
“Biden-Boutigieg FAA shot this movement without properly hardening the telecommunications lines that feed the data, which was already known for being prone to errors,” said Duffy. “Without addressing the underlying infrastructure, they added more risk to the system.”
Duffy also said that FAA should have established a new radar system for Newark in Philadelphia instead of turning on the New York signal for drivers.
Duffy and President Donald Trump have said that Newark problems are an excellent example of why they developed a multi -million dollar plan for Check the nation’s air traffic control systempresented last week. Duffy blames the Biden administration for not doing that, but those problems date back to decades, even before the first Trump administration.
An advisor to former Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, said Duffy should spend more time trying to deal with the problems of the nation, and defended the efforts of the Biden administration to reinforce the hiring of the air traffic controller and make an initial payment of dealing with some of the infrastructure problems.
“The Secretary Duffy has a difficult job. But he needs to spend more time doing what the American people are paying him to do, solve problems, and less blaming others,” said Chris Meagher.
Duffy presented a extensive plan To replace the Nation’s obsolete air traffic control system last week, including the installation of 4,600 new high -speed data connections and replace 618 radars, but did not put a price on the plan that is not to say that it will cost billions.
The FAA has installed new fiber optic lines at the Newark airport and Kennedy International and Laguardia in New York airports to replace the old copper cables from the first interruption, but plans to spend the next two weeks trying those new lines before changing them.
