Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on May 5 that he would soon announce plans to “radically transform” America’s air traffic control, as recent safety incidents have put a spotlight on its aging technology and implications for travelers.
“We are going to radically transform the way air traffic control looks,” Duffy said.
“We’re going to build a brand new air traffic control system—from new telecom to new radars to new infrastructure. We’re bringing on new air traffic controllers.
“This has been a problem in the decades coming, and we’re going to fix it.”
Duffy cited an incident on April 28 at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey when air traffic controllers lost all contact with planes for 30 seconds after a critical communication line went dark and its backup system failed to activate.
“Were planes going to crash? No. They have communication devices; they can see other air traffic, like GPS in airplanes. But it’s a sign that we have a frail system in place, and it has to be fixed,” the secretary said.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), the union representing air traffic controllers, confirmed the incident in a statement to The Epoch Times and said multiple workers are taking leave for trauma they endured.
“The dedicated, American, hard-working employees who serve as controllers are the foundation of our air traffic control system,” the union wrote.
“This is why NATCA supports Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s efforts to upgrade and modernize our nation’s air traffic control systems and infrastructure.”
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed that several controllers at the Philadelphia TRACON, who cover Newark Airport arrivals and departures, have “taken time off to recover from the stress of multiple recent outages.”
“While we cannot quickly replace them due to this highly specialized profession, we continue to train controllers who will eventually be assigned to this busy airspace,” the FAA said in a statement to The Epoch Times.
Both of the systems that failed last week have since been fixed, Duffy said, but officials have now reduced traffic at the Newark Airport, describing it like a driver slowing down on the interstate after getting white paint on their windshield.
“So, we’ve slowed the traffic down at Newark. There’s a runway that’s under construction, and our primary goal is to make sure people are safe,” Duffy said.
“When you have an incident like this, you want to make sure that people are safe,” he added. “And so, you just have less departures out of the airport until we feel comfortable and safe that the system isn’t going to go down again.”
The FAA confirmed the traffic slowdown at Newark in its statement on the incident and said it would “keep the public updated as we work through these issues.”
While air traffic controller shortages have been an issue for years, particularly after many retired during the COVID-19 pandemic, those shortages were cited in the push to increase funding for the FAA ahead of last year’s FAA Reauthorization Act in Congress.
Recent safety incidents have also thrust the topic back into the public sphere, especially after the deadly midair collision near Washington earlier this year.
After an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with a commercial jet in January, killing all 67 people on board both aircraft, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said a single air traffic controller had been staffed to handle radio frequencies for both helicopters and planes.
While this is not an unusual staffing decision, the NTSB noted that it usually occurs later in the evening, whereas on the day of the incident, the controller had been put on both shifts earlier than usual.
“We’re using floppy disks in our system. We have headphone jacks that we’re plugging and unplugging. Think back to the 1980s, if you were even alive. That’s the system that we’re using for air traffic control,” Duffy said.
“It’s old, but it’s safe, but ... looking forward, we don’t want to lose lives because we have a break in the system, so it has to be upgraded, and it’s going to take money.”
In its statement on the Newark incident, the FAA said America’s “antiquated air traffic control system is affecting our workforce.”
“We must get the best safety technology in the hands of controllers as soon as possible,” the agency said.
“We are working to ensure the current telecommunications equipment is more reliable in the New York area by establishing a more resilient and redundant configuration with the local exchange carriers.”
