An air traffic controller at Newark is like ‘a 3D chess player who can juggle a chainsaw' with their eyes closed, ex-pilot says
A former United Airlines pilot said Newark air traffic controllers already had a tough enough job prior to the recent system outage. Some air traffic controllers involved in the Newark airport system chaos opted for a 45-day 'trauma leave" adding to an already vacant profession.
Despite the system outage at Newark Liberty International Airport that has delayed flights into this week, air traffic controllers tasked with airport's logistics already have a ridiculously hard job, a former United Airlines pilot said.
'I equate a good, A-level, traffic controller that can handle a place like Newark, JFK, LAX, San Francisco, to a three dimensional chess player who can juggle a chainsaw, an axe, a sword, a razor blade with his eyes closed,' Aero Consulting Experts CEO and a former United pilot Ross Aimer told Fortune.
Last week, air traffic controllers in the Philadelphia TRACON (PHL) tasked with oversight into the logistics of arrival and departure flights at the Newark Liberty International Airport 'temporarily lost radar and communications with the aircraft under their control, unable to see, hear, or talk to them,' the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) told Quartz.
The incident came after an American Airlines flight collided with a U.S. Army Blackhawk Helicopter over the Potomac killing everyone on board and adding further scrutiny to the Federal Aviation Administrations and its 50-year-old technology.
While there were no accidents as a result of the outage at Newark, the 60- to 90-second darkness 'was the most dangerous situation you could have,' an on duty air traffic controller told CNN.
Following the outage, some employees 'who work Newark arrivals and departures have taken time off to recover from the stress of multiple recent outages,' the Federal Aviation Administration posted on X. Under the Federal Employees' Compensation Act, air traffic controllers are allowed to take a 45-day 'trauma leave' after a stressful event.
A supervisor, three controllers, and a trainee were among those who took the 45-day leave, another air traffic controller told CNN.
'While we cannot replace them due to this highly specialized profession, we continue to train controllers who will eventually be assigned to this busy airspace,' the Federal Aviation Administration posted on X.
The ranks of qualified air traffic controllers are sparse. In January, NATCA President Nick Daniels said in an interview with CBS News that there are 10,800 air traffic controllers, but the number should be 14,335. Additionally, more than 90% of the nation's air traffic control facilities fall below the recommended staffing levels, The New York Times reported.
NATCA did not return Fortune's request for comment.
'It takes a long time to train [an] air traffic controller,' Aimer said.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) website, entry-level applicants must 'spend several months' completing training courses at the agency's academy before gaining two to three years of classroom and hands-on experience.
'A lot of these guys, they burn out,' Aimer said. 'They can't finish the training, which is very grueling,'
Due to the staffing shortage in Newark, United Airlines pulled 35 round-trip flights to the airport.
'Keep in mind, this particular air traffic control facility has been chronically understaffed for years and without these controllers, it's now clear — and the FAA tells us — that Newark airport cannot handle the number of planes that are scheduled to operate there in the weeks and months ahead,' United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said in a statement.
Currently the Philadelphia-based tower in charge of Newark has '22 fully certified controllers and 21 controllers and supervisors in training,' according to an FAA statement obtained by Fortune.
'We have a healthy pipeline with training classes filled through July 2026,' The FAA wrote.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indianapolis Star
2 days ago
- Indianapolis Star
Did you see a fire at Indianapolis Airport? That was just a realistic emergency drill
Smoke billowed over the Indianapolis International Airport on June 18 after the cabin of a plane caught fire. But none of the hundreds of first responders and volunteers at the scene seemed too upset; the model of a plane cabin had been set on fire deliberately as part of a live disaster exercise. The dramatic scene was an Airport Preparedness Exercise or APEX, a full-scale drill the Federal Aviation Administration requires airports to undergo every three years. The simulation, which costs the airport $30,000 to host, is a test of its emergency response multiple fatal plane crashes have made headlines in 2025, the FAA has faced increased scrutiny, spotlighting the importance of these routine safety practices. More than 400 people participated in the drill, representing more than 30 agencies, including the Indianapolis Fire Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as well as nearby hospitals, fire and police departments. About 125 of those present were unpaid volunteers acting as passengers. Evaluators from hospitals, fire departments and other airports provided feedback on the exercise, taking into account command structure, patient triage, resource management and other safety factors. 'We're looking at the plan, making sure that it's the right plan,' Airport Fire Department Chief Fred Pervine said. Behind the International Arrivals building, a hollowed-out model plane cabin was set ablaze, and different teams of firefighters worked to extinguish the flames. The airport fire department has three minutes from the time they're notified of a fire to arrive at the scene. 'The aircraft will be completely consumed in three minutes, so we have to get there quick,' Pervine said. In a nearby building, emergency medical services practiced their triage system. Volunteers dripping with fake blood lay on the ground, surrounded by luggage and faux plane wreckage. Megan Kelley, an emergency room nurse, acted as one of the 'wounded,' with fake blood on her arms and cheeks. She called the experience enlightening, and said it was interesting to see how first responders address medical emergencies at a scene compared to how they handle such situations in the hospital. 'We just like, deal with one patient at a time pretty much,' she said. 'And then here, I feel like it's just mass amounts of people that they have to sort through.' Scott Hengemuhle, another volunteer, said seeing all that went on behind the scenes made him feel safer about flying. 'It was cool to see all the different EMS, fire departments from around the area, to see them all coming together and doing the same thing,' he said. 'Really cool to just see them coordinating. They all kinda knew what they were doing.' With different agencies working together, the ultimate goal is to practice unified communication, Pervine said.
Boston Globe
13-06-2025
- Boston Globe
Anger and grief in Ahmedabad after India's deadliest crash in decades
Advertisement As of Thursday night, an estimated 269 people were confirmed dead, according to senior police official Vishaka Dabral. But students and faculty at the college believe the number of casualties on the ground may be higher, considering how busy the dining hall was at the time of the crash. Within a minute, the plane had ascended, leveled off, and then plummeted to the earth, erupting into a ball of fire, according to CCTV footage verified by The Washington Post. 'In a minute, everything has changed,' Vagadaya said from the hospital auditorium, where relatives waited Friday to give their blood to help identify loved ones who died in Thursday's crash, and had within a day morphed from a place of panic to a makeshift gathering site for mourners. The plane had been carrying 169 Indians, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese nationals, and one Canadian, according to Air India. The 12 crew members were Indian. Advertisement The pilots of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner - captain Sumeet Sabharwal and first officer Clive Kundar - had issued a 'Mayday' distress call shortly after takeoff on Thursday, India's civil aviation regulatory authority said in a statement provided via WhatsApp. There was no further communication from the cockpit, it said. Air India did not respond to requests for comment for this article. Aviation experts caution that it is too early to determine the cause. India's civil aviation minister tweeted on Friday evening that investigators had retrieved the plane's flight data recorder, one of two 'black box' recorders that airlines typically have. 'This marks an important step forward in the investigation,' Ram Mohan Naidu said. Mohan Ranganathan, a former Boeing 737 instructor pilot, said the CCTV footage shows the aircraft's nose rising again during descent, a possible indication that the pilot stalled while attempting to regain lift. He said preliminary reports can be issued after two weeks of finding the flight data recorder, but a final report can take time. Other analysts pointed to abnormal takeoff configurations. Jeff Guzzetti, a former Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board investigator, said the videos show the landing gear remained down and the flaps unelevated. 'It happened during the daytime. The visibility was good. So what went wrong?' wondered Jitender Bhargava, a former Air India executive director and author of 'The Descent of Air India,' a book about the financial downfall of the airline. Rahul Bhatia, a medical student at the medical college, was frantic on Friday morning, switching between phone calls and responding to WhatsApp groups, trying to help his classmates find the missing. Advertisement He was still in shock from the stories coming in. He heard that a friend's wife, seven months pregnant, was in the dormitory when a plane ripped through the ceiling and wall. Her unborn child was seen outside her body, Bhatia said he heard - a report that The Post could not independently verify. 'I'll remember this for the rest of my life.' Major aviation disasters are rare in India, though Air India, the country's former national carrier, has been involved in several deadly incidents. In 2020, a flight operated by Air India Express, a subsidiary of Air India, skidded off a runway during a heavy downpour in southern India and broke into pieces, killing 21 who had been on board. In 2010, 158 people died in Mangalore, western India, when an Air India Express plane overshot the runway while landing and crashed down the side of a hill. In 1978, all 213 people aboard Air India Flight 855 perished after the plane fell into the Arabian Sea off the coast of Mumbai shortly after takeoff. There has been 'no accountability,' Ranganathan said. Since its privatization in 2022, Air India - now owned by the Tata Group - has faced a string of regulatory setbacks. In March this year, Air India fired a simulator trainer pilot after a whistleblower alleged that the pilot had failed to properly discharge his duties and misrepresented the number of hours for which simulator training was carried out. Two months before the whistleblower incident, India's civil aviation regulator fined the airline 3,000,000 rupees (about $35,000) after it allowed a pilot to operate a flight without completing the mandatory takeoffs and landings. In March 2024, the airline was found in violation of flight duty time limitations - rules that help prevent pilot fatigue - and fined 8,000,000 rupees (about $93,000). Advertisement Bhargava said none of the violations would have led to safety hazards that 'translate into this tragedy.' 'But, no doubt,' he said, 'at the end of the day, the accountability is with the airline.' Thursday's crash was the first involving Boeing's 787, a fuel-efficient jet introduced by the company in 2009 and dubbed the Dreamliner. The jet that crashed was delivered to Air India in early 2014; it had taken off and landed more than 8,000 times, according to Cirium, an aviation analytics firm. Analysts said the inquiry is likely to focus on the actions of the pilots, the airline, maintenance of the jet, and Boeing - which has struggled for years to fully recover from two air disasters both involving a smaller jet, the 737 Max, in 2018 and 2019. Those crashes, which were linked to a design flaw, killed a combined 346 people in Indonesia and Ethiopia. But Bhargava said: 'I will not judge by previous controversies. I will judge by the safety track record of the Dreamliner.' Until Thursday, more than 1,100 Dreamliners in service globally had carried 1 billion passengers with no fatal crashes, according to Boeing. In a news conference on Thursday, US Transportion Secretary Sean P. Duffy said the NTSB and FAA were deploying investigators to assist India in its investigation of the deadly plane crash. Duffy added that it was still very early in the investigation, but promised to take action if there were safety failures. 'If there are initial factors of concern in regards to safety, we will be made aware and we will take action. When one of these planes go down, we take it very seriously,' he said. Advertisement Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday visited the crash site, touring the wreckage and speaking with Viswash Kumar Ramesh, the sole survivor of the 242 people aboard the flight. News outlet ANI released an image of Modi looking up at the aircraft's mangled tail jutting out of the college's wall. The prime minister did not speak to reporters. Back at the Civil Hospital, still bedridden from his injuries, Ramesh spoke briefly to local media. He told the broadcaster Doordarshan that he was on the side of the plane that crashed into the ground floor of the hospital. 'When the door broke, I saw that there was some space for me to get out,' he said, his voice quivering. 'I really don't know how I survived.' Nearby, Hina Kundani trembled with rage inside the crowded hospital auditorium, waiting to provide a DNA sample. Three of her relatives had been aboard the flight. 'This is not the time for a photo session,' the 45-year-old shouted at Harsh Sanghavi, the home affairs minister of Gujarat, who was visiting the hospital at the time. Sanghavi left the auditorium shortly after a Post reporter approached him for comment, and his secretary did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 'We're in trauma,' she told The Post, 'and ministers are taking photos.'
New York Times
13-06-2025
- New York Times
Is There a Safest Seat in a Plane Crash? We Asked Experts.
Suddenly, airline passengers around the world are wondering if there is something special about Seat 11A. That's where Viswash Kumar Ramesh, 38, the sole survivor of the Air India Boeing 787-8 that crashed after takeoff in Ahmedabad, India, on Thursday was sitting. Did the location of his seat help spare his life? Probably not, aviation experts said. There's nothing that makes that or any other seat safer than anywhere else on a plane, and they added, it's usually not worth trying to game out safety when selecting where to sit for a flight. 'If you're in a crash, all bets are off,' said Jeff Guzzetti, a former accident investigator for the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board. 'So pick whatever seat you want to make you feel comfortable.' While conventional wisdom holds that the rear of an aircraft may be safer, that theory falsely assumes that the front of a plane will always make impact first in the event of a crash, Mr. Guzzetti said. 'You just can't predict crash dynamics.' Airlines use different configurations for different aircraft. On that Air India flight, Seat 11A was in an exit row on the left side, according to a seat map on SeatGuru. Sitting near an exit may allow passengers to escape more quickly in some circumstances, but Mr. Ramesh told India's state broadcaster that the right side of the aircraft was 'crushed against a wall,' preventing anyone else who may have survived the initial impact from escaping through the exit on that side. In an emergency like a fire, when 'you're still sitting on your landing gear and the airplane is pretty much upright and intact,' an exit row may offer the quickest path to safety, Mr. Guzzetti said. 'But with regard to the crash dynamics of an accident like Air India, I think it's just a matter of chance.' Shawn Pruchnicki, a former accident investigator at the Air Line Pilots Association and an assistant professor of aviation safety at Ohio State University, chalked up Mr. Ramesh's survival to 'purely luck.' 'In these types of accidents people just don't survive this close to the front, this close to fuel,' Dr. Pruchnicki said, referring to the fact that the fuel tanks on a Boeing 787 are mainly on the wings and in the fuselage between them. The crash on Thursday was the latest in a string of recent aviation disasters around the globe, including a midair collision in Washington in January, and crashes in South Korea and Kazakhstan in December, that have raised fears among some travelers about the safety of flying. Aviation experts say flying remains safe and that crashes, though high-profile, remain very rare. Christine Chung contributed reporting. Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram and sign up for our Travel Dispatch newsletter to get expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming up a future getaway or just armchair traveling? Check out our 52 Places to Go in 2025.
