A 39-year-old New Yorker was the only air traffic controller on duty for Newark Liberty international airport when the system blacked out on May 9, leaving planes stranded in the air for 90 seconds.
The incident, one of multiple blackouts that have hit the airport, left her so traumatised she is on leave.
Speaking in detail for the first time, but anonymously for fear of criticism from members of the public, she tells The Times how her worst nightmare unfolded, and why she is worried this is just the beginning of the crisis at America’s second busiest airport.
Just before 4am on May 9, I was sitting at my desk at air traffic control for Newark, the only operator on deck.
It was my last late shift of the week, and I felt tired, but tried to remain alert. Then the unthinkable happened.
Suddenly, all my frequencies cut out. Then my radar scope went dark and I could no longer see the dozens of planes that had dotted my screen seconds earlier. I had no way of tracking where any of the four aircraft I had been speaking to were and I had no means to reach them. “Oh no,” I thought. “It’s happening again.” On April 28, we had experienced a 90-second communications outage so frightening that five of my fellow controllers ended up on 45 days of trauma leave. To be without eyes or ears in air traffic control for a full minute and a half is absolutely terrifying. But now here I was, alone, facing the same fate. Visibility at Newark has also been affected by weather in recent weeks SHUTTERSTOCK EDITORIAL During a 90-second blackout, anything can happen. In the past, I’ve had planes depart and then immediately turn the wrong way into the airspace above nearby LaGuardia airport. A plane can also jump from 2,000ft to 4,500ft in that time period, which is extremely risky in our congested airspace where small aircraft are practising manoeuvres, especially during the summer. Being at the controls without any of our signals is like trying to dodge mines without a mine detector. That night, the only other person on duty was my supervisor, but he wasn’t actually working air traffic — his job is essentially to react if anything goes wrong, including making calls to other air traffic facilities. It’s only because I’ve been doing this job for 16 years that I knew how to act. I found a radar scope that, miraculously, still seemed to be working, and I managed to reconnect with the departing plane I had been speaking to seconds before the dropout. • ‘Like Apollo 13’: What is wrong with US air traffic control? After 90 seconds all the frequencies came back, and I recovered contact with all four planes. But we had no idea if communications were going to be lost again. (Another blackout occurred only two days after my shift, on May 11.) I was so shaken by the incident, I was put on stress-related trauma leave the following day and I’m undergoing psychological evaluation. I haven’t returned to work — but this concerns me, too, because it means there are even fewer controllers managing the skies around Newark. Do I think it’s safe to fly from or to the airport? Let me put it like this: I deliberately avoid my own airport when booking flights, even if the alternatives are more expensive and less convenient. If Newark’s air traffic control problems don’t get fixed, I believe it’s only a matter of time before we have a fatal crash between two planes. The troubles started last summer when the government forced Newark’s air controllers out of our central hub in Long Island, which previously oversaw aircraft flow to all three New York airports — Newark, LaGuardia and JFK — to where we are now, in Philadelphia. The relocation, designed to ease congestion along the northeast corridor, has jeopardised our ability to direct planes at America’s second busiest airport, which handles more than 1,000 flights a day, including a dozen from the UK. A snapshot of live flight data and control towers over the northeastern US at about 10am local time on May 20 FLIGHTRADAR24 Under the relocation, not everyone was forced to move to Philadelphia. Some of my colleagues stayed in Long Island, and cover JFK and LaGuardia instead. That means our team shrank from about 30 to 24 certified controllers, which isn’t enough to provide 24/7 coverage for Newark. My colleagues and I agree that we need at least 40 controllers for the airport. • The transport secretary insists Newark is safe — just not for his wife In recent months, when it’s been especially busy, Newark’s controllers have been forced to work a dozen aeroplanes at once. This makes it nearly impossible to reliably communicate with pilots, who will interrupt one another’s transmissions as they fly in from higher altitudes, where they’ll be speaking to other air traffic controls, and radio me for guidance. Things can get very heated. If it wasn’t for my other colleagues signing “fatigue waivers” that cut short their rest days, or taking on shifts at the 11th hour, Newark’s air traffic control would have folded by now. At the same time, we’ve been experiencing repeat power failures at Philadelphia due to poor technology. We warned the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) that the system would be overwhelmed if the infrastructure and equipment was not expanded there, but they did not listen. Instead, they used underground wiring to redirect the data that flows into Long Island to our screens here. It’s turned into one big feed relay but this has led to bandwidth overload and mass failures. Everyone on my team has experienced a communications failure of varying severity since the move. There must have been at least a dozen in the past ten months. Each occurrence leaves us sick with dread and severely burnt out. About a third of Newark’s controllers are on trauma leave as a result of the crisis. Only days ago my colleague spoke publicly about an incident in which two aircraft under his control were flying nose-to-nose at the same altitude and would probably have collided if the communications had dropped out for 90 seconds. Thankfully, he managed to avert catastrophe. But like many others here, he was put on stress-related trauma leave afterwards because that incident finally took him over the edge. He remains off work to this day. To be clear, what me and my fellow controllers are being asked to do is dangerous and puts us in a terrible position. None of us want to be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people. I want to return as soon as I’m well enough to return. The operation definitely needs me, but I also recognise that the increased anxiety I’m experiencing has been making me a lesser controller and a shell of myself. When I return I want to return at full capacity so that I can do right by the flying public. The staff shortages are only going to get worse. More than a dozen staff have been told they can go back to the main traffic control headquarters in Long Island next summer, while three are due to retire soon. I worry we’ll need to bring in controllers from quieter parts of the country who aren’t qualified to handle our airspace’s high traffic volume. We had been telling the FAA for months that we were running too many planes, but it’s only after the bad press that they decided to lower the number of flights allowed to arrive at Newark. At the moment, we’re handling roughly 22 planes an hour during our busiest periods — down from 38. But once the headlines stop, I wouldn’t be surprised if it returns to how it was. The FAA cares more about keeping the airlines happy. My experiences at Newark have left me so hopeless. I thought safety was paramount but I’m shocked at the way corners are being cut behind our backs. I don’t write this because I want our working conditions to improve — which, of course, I do — but to raise the alarm. If the authorities don’t fix this mess immediately, people will pay with their lives. “In August 2020, due to critical staffing shortfalls at New York Tracon [Terminal radar approach control], the FAA provided the National Air Traffic Controllers Association with formal notice of the decision to realign responsibility for the Newark airspace to the Philadelphia Tracon. “Immediately following successful negotiations between the FAA and NATCA about the airspace realignment, the agency established a collaborative work group with the union to address implementation issues and included the joint development of advanced simulation training and the design of a high-fidelity training lab at the Philadelphia facility. “The FAA has more than 74,000 pieces of equipment in the National Airspace System. Every air traffic control facility has a contingency plan to ensure safety, and we have built-in redundancies, backup systems and procedures in the case of system failure, weather, or other unplanned event. But as Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy noted, our system is outdated and showing its age. When equipment issues occur, the FAA will ensure safety by slowing down air traffic at an airport.” Newark airport was contacted for comment. Like dodging mines without a mine detector
Do I think it’s safe? Let me put it like this…
‘Fatigue waivers’ cut rest days
It is only going to get worse
The FAA’s response: