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AN air traffic controller has warned that lives are at risk at her own airport after a terrifying mid-air blackout left her unable to guide four planes.
Even she refuses to fly out of the major US airport, and would pay more and go through extra hassle just to avoid it.
The veteran controller, based at Newark International Airport in New Jersey, shared her chilling account that ended up with her on trauma leave with The Times.
The incident happened on May 9, just before 4 am, when the radar and radio systems went dark for 90 seconds, with her alone in the tower.
She said she suddenly lost track of all aircraft in the sky, with no radar images and no way to speak to the pilots she had just been directing.
“Being at the controls without any of our signals is like trying to dodge mines without a mine detector,” she wrote.
The frightening situation ended when communications eventually came back, but by then, the damage had been done.
She described how dozens of planes that had filled her screen were wiped out in an instant, leaving her completely blind.
Even worse, it wasn’t the first time it happened.
A similar outage hit the same control tower on April 28, and in both cases, backup systems failed to immediately restore radar or contact with pilots.
The woman, 39, said the tower is run remotely from Philadelphia, but support systems aren’t keeping up when things go wrong.
Another outage happened again on May 11, just two days after the terrifying May 9 blackout, but this time, the backups worked right away.
Despite that, the earlier scare left her so rattled she was placed on stress-trauma leave, a move that’s now left the airport with even fewer staff.
She warned it’s not just a staffing issue, it’s a looming disaster.
“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,” she said.
“Even if the alternatives are more expensive and less convenient.”
She didn’t hold back in her warning about what’s at stake.
“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 controller has worked in one of the most high-pressure airspaces in the world for 16 years.
She says if nothing changes, “people will pay with their lives.”
The Federal Aviation Administration has responded, admitting its technology is struggling to keep up.
What air traffic control changes have been announced by Sean Duffy?
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has asked for tens of billions of dollars to “fix
Here is what he announced on May 8:
- A “brand new air traffic control system” to be built by 2028
- New infrastructure such as radar, software, hardware and telecommunications networks
- Over 4,600 sites will get new high-speed network connections replacing old telecommunications lines with fiber, wireless and satellite links
- Over 25,000 new radios and 475 new voice switches will be deployed to maintain controller-pilot communications and reduce delays
- The Department Of Transportation will also replace 618 radars by 2027
- Six new air traffic control centers will be built for the first time since the 1960s
- Surface awareness initiative technology, which helps prevent close calls on the ground, will be expanded to 200 airports
- 174 new weather stations will be installed in Alaska
In a statement, officials said the “system is outdated and showing its age.”
“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.”
The FAA added that when problems like this happen, they slow down traffic to boost safety, but gave no timeline for fixes.
The FAA will share a revised schedule, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Tuesday, confirming that Newark flights will be slashed.
Newark Airport currently handles around 1,200 flights a day, according to the Port Authority of New Jersey.
The exact number of flights affected has not been announced yet, but the FAA said it held one-on-one meetings with major airlines “to find a balance between reducing their operations at the airport and meeting the needs of each individual airline.”
The Newark airport is also experiencing delays due to construction that is scheduled to end on June 15.
To ease controller workload and accommodate runway construction, the FAA suggested limiting arrivals to 28 planes per hour.
“The goal is to have a manageable number of flights land at Newark,” US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy explained at a press briefing.
“Families shouldn’t have to wait four or five hours for a flight that never takes off.
“By lowering the number of flights, we can ensure the ones that are kept, they do actually take off and they do actually land.”
The air traffic controller’s warning now hangs heavy over Newark, one of the country’s busiest hubs, as the summer travel season kicks off.
