Problems at Newark show it's Mayday for air traffic safety

It's the Mayday emergency we all knew was coming.

For decades, our nation has lacked the commitment necessary to upgrade our national air transportation system. No matter which party controls Congress or the White House, the federal government has failed to improve the Federal Aviation Administration's aging technology and dwindling workforce, resulting in the current problems plaguing our airports and the hubs where controllers work.

Air traffic controllers and other professionals have attempted to highlight the issues for years. But it took 90 seconds of black screens and silent communications — and the cascading series of problems that followed at Newark Liberty International Airport and beyond — to alert everyone and put us all on notice.

Now it's an emergency, one that requires sweeping action from the Trump administration, led by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, and Congress. The urgency is underscored as the summer travel season gets underway this weekend. Travelers must be able to count on a reliable, safe flying experience, free of unreasonable delays. Right now, that's impossible when old, analog systems using beacons are still in service and difficult for a new generation to learn. Duffy should explore abandoning a bogged-down upgrade of those old strategies and instead opt for modern technology that uses satellites and GPS while still having backup safety measures.

BEWILDERING BLACKOUTS

The most recent tumult began in the early afternoon on April 28, with an extraordinary 90-second radar and communications blackout at Newark's air traffic control center in Philadelphia, during which controllers could not see planes on their radar screens and could not communicate with pilots. It was so terrifying to the controllers that several took trauma-related leave. The failure to quickly inform the public of the problem was worrisome and since the incident, Newark Airport has experienced hundreds of flight delays, cancellations and diversions.

Days later, a similar outage shockingly happened again, this time in the early morning. Again, it was hours before the public was notified. Meanwhile, travelers out of and into Newark have dealt with day after day of ground stops, diversions, delays and cancellations. Now, flights are being cut back at Newark, placing strains on passengers to find alternative flights and creating even more congestion at Kennedy and LaGuardia airports.

Similar issues have occurred beyond Newark. Last week, Denver International Airport's Air Route Traffic Control Center suffered a similar, though seemingly less severe outage, when communication with pilots failed. By using alternative frequencies, officials said, airplanes "remained safely separated." Earlier this month, a pilot at LaGuardia had to abort takeoff and quickly stop when another aircraft taxied across the runway, a near miss apparently due in part to the different radio frequencies controllers were using.

All of this followed the horrific January midair collision of a Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet that killed 67 people at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. There, too, a controller shortage and problematic radio communications played a role.

REASON FOR CONCERN

Air travelers increasingly have legitimate reason for concern. Veteran air traffic controller Jonathan Stewart, who was among the Newark controllers who took trauma leave and said he stopped a potential in-air collision between two planes on May 4, told The Wall Street Journal last week that he "did not want to be responsible for killing 400 people."

The outages and additional problems specific to Newark have their roots in Westbury, which hosts New York TRACON — the terminal radar approach control facility that monitors departing and approaching planes. Last year, in a much-criticized move, the FAA moved Westbury-based air traffic controllers who track the Newark air space to a TRACON facility in Philadelphia. Yet, equipment remained in Westbury, forcing the use of long and aging transmission lines that may have contributed to the outages. LaGuardia and Kennedy airport controllers still operate in Westbury, avoiding some of the Newark turmoil.

Some of this could have been prevented. Long before the troubling controller relocation, a 2013 proposal would have consolidated the New York TRACON with other air traffic facilities in a modern, integrated complex at Enterprise Park in Calverton. Unfortunately, the FAA never moved forward with that project. Such a facility would have been part of a broad modernization plan known as NextGen, unveiled by President George W. Bush in 2003. But like the EPCAL idea, much of it was stalled, underfunded or otherwise never came to fruition.

The FAA has rarely been prioritized or well-funded. And it may not be until passengers en masse demand it be done. In recent decades of campaigns for the presidency or Congress, have you seen any candidate pledge to make air travel safer and more reliable?

The FAA has formed an emergency task force to address immediate, short-term concerns. Earlier this month, Duffy unveiled sweeping plans to increase staffing, back up data lines, and modernize infrastructure, including building new TRACONs. He also should consider returning the Newark workforce to Long Island and building one of those new facilities for New York's busy airspace — perhaps even returning to those Calverton plans or alternative ways of integrating Long Island's critical facilities.

Most important, the federal government and its partners must signal an urgency that's been missing. Only then can they make sure we're all ready for takeoff.