Air Traffic Controllers Warned of 'Incredibly Dangerous' Incidents at Newark

Much has been made over the recent air traffic control system failures at Newark Airport, but in reality, the problem goes back a long time.

According to a new report from CNN, air traffic controllers "repeatedly" warned of major safety issues and technology outages as early as last summer, months before the April 28 outage that has been a major factor in the widespread delays and cancellations at the second-busiest airport in the New York City area.

That shutdown, which reportedly lasted between 60 and 90 seconds, resulted in controllers being unable to communicate with pilots or monitor planes on radar. One employee at the Philadelphia facility which is responsible for Newark air traffic called it the "most dangerous situation you can have."

The latest CNN intel says that several times over the last year, Newark air traffic controllers "lost radar or radio service" and were unable to contact the planes they were monitoring. 

In another incident last August, controllers overseeing La Guardia Airport in New York and their counterparts in Philadelphia guiding Newark aircraft rerouted pilots through the same area because of inclement weather. Since they were not in the same room at the time, the controllers reportedly "struggled to communicate," leading to an "incredibly dangerous" situation.

“The fact that there was no catastrophic mid air collision is nothing short of luck, as these aircraft were converging at high speeds at the same altitude in between dangerous thunderstorms off their left and right sides,” one controller wrote after that ordeal.

Following a situation on November 6 during which Newark controllers went silent for more than two minutes during a radio outage, one employee told CNN he works in "constant fear" of a fatal collision happening on his watch. The man also accused the FAA of ignoring warnings on safety issues.

“At the end of the day, I just want equipment that works,” he said. “I don’t want to kill people. That’s my biggest fear.”

On Wednesday, the FAA released a statement documenting "immediate steps to improve the reliability of operations at Newark Liberty International Airport." 

The measures included adding "three new, high-bandwidth telecommunications connections" between the Philadelphia and Long Island, replacing old copper wiring with new fiberoptic cables and installing a temporary backup system for the Philadelphia facility.

United States Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has also pledged to overhaul the country's air traffic control system, promising technological advancements and the hiring and training of thousands more controllers.

Since last week, Newark Airport has seen frequent delays and cancellations of flights as a result of equipment failures, understaffing and a shutdown of one of the hub's main runways for renovation.