Fwd: Fw: Critics say new flight paths haven't eased Newark danger
Thomas Sullivan
Critics say new flight paths haven't eased Newark danger
Sunday, February 15,
2009
BY TOM DAVIS
NorthJersey.com
STAFF WRITER
Graphic:
Air traffic Graphic:
Quality assurance
Near-daily struggles with wrong-turns, aircraft running low on fuel and delayed landings are putting Newark Liberty International Airport's planes at risk, pilots and air traffic controllers say.
The Federal Aviation Administration's redesign of the region's airspace that began last year — adding routes and expanding flight capacity — has done little to help, those controllers and pilots say, adding that the skies remain overcrowded and unmanageable.
The problems — though unrelated to Thursday's fatal crash in Buffalo, N.Y., or the US Airways jetliner ditching in the Hudson River — illustrate how quickly things can go wrong in the crowded airspace above the metropolitan region.
"There are a lot of things that happen that people don't know about," said Ray Adams, vice president of the Newark-based chapter of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.
Among the issues highlighted in flight logs obtained by The Record from May through November last year:
* Controllers regularly scramble to steer errant planes back on course.
* Pilots struggle to comprehend new traffic patterns that are too close to those of nearby airports.
* Since gas prices spiked last summer, some planes have entered Newark's crowded skies with insufficient fuel aboard, compelling the airport to declare an emergency and order fire and rescue personnel to the runway.
The Buffalo crash appears to be ice-related, and a preliminary investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board indicates a flock of geese took out the engines of the US Airways flight last month.
FAA officials say the skies are safe, and the agency says it hopes to eventually use new technology to better identify potential obstacles in the air and on the ground.
"Aviation is still the safest form of transportation around, considering we have hundreds of thousands of flights a year and we have an incredible record of safety," FAA spokesman Jim Peters said.
The Port Authority will spend $6.1 million this year to make Newark Liberty the first major airfield to use new satellite navigation technology, which is expected to make the process of managing flights in and out of Newark more efficient.
"Our primary concern is the safety of the roughly 35 million passengers who use Newark Liberty International Airport annually," Port Authority spokesman Ron Marsico said. "We are confident the FAA and the controllers will continue to work together to ensure the safety of flights into and out of the airport."
Issues abound
But controllers and pilots say the FAA's efforts to improve efficiency will likely fall short because controllers are overworked, pilots are unfamiliar with the new routes and both groups must consistently face weather-related issues and mechanical problems — further complicating the already crowded skies.
For example:
On Nov. 22, during the busy Thanksgiving weekend, eight such incidents prompted "quality assurance reviews" in which FAA personnel evaluate whether controllers and pilots performed their jobs safely. The reviews themselves can be quite detailed or have a sparse amount of information, depending on the author.
Those eight incidents included problems with wing slats, which help slow aircraft to landing speed; wind gusts that caused planes to change speeds or altitudes; and a mechanical problem that caused a jetliner to experience a nose-wheel steering malfunction on the runway, causing a plane next in line for the runway to delay its landing.
On Nov. 27, three pilots unfamiliar with the new routes departed the wrong way — each prompting review.
Many incidents happened before the FAA decided — after initially objecting — to provide pilots a published set of guidelines on Newark's new departure procedures by July 31. The agency had planned to provide the guidelines, which many pilots carry with them in their cockpits, by the end of last year.
Charges fly
The FAA changed course after The Record in May reported several incidents of planes turning the wrong way out of Newark. Controllers also accused FAA management of pressuring them last summer not to report serious incidents – a charge the FAA denies.
The number of reviews of potentially serious incidents dropped from 94 in June to 65 in September before ticking back up to 74 in October.
Peters said most reviews are routine in nature and typically confirm that no violations of FAA rules took place.
"That system is in there to provide critical assistance that an aircraft needs when requested," Peters said.
Aviation experts agree that some incidents that prompt reviews — such as wind gusts — typically do not present a hazard to the pilot, crew and passengers.
But the frequency of such incidents concerns experts who fear the airspace redesign could actually create problems for controllers and pilots struggling to navigate the region's crowded conditions.
On Nov. 24, Newark aircraft were forced to stop their takeoffs three times within an hour because planes were competing with departures at Morristown Airport, according to controllers and reports in FAA logs.
"The controllers have a hell of a lot on their hands," said licensed pilot William Waldock, a professor of safety science at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Arizona. "I don't understand how they do their job"
Lighter fuel load
Records show that low fuel, in particular, was a problem during the summer — before fuel prices dropped dramatically in recent months. Airlines lightened their fuel load so they could carry less weight, and therefore burn less fuel and save money, pilots have said.
On June 19, five incidents involving fuel shortages took place — including an emergency at 6:04 p.m. in which a jet had 30 minutes of fuel remaining, according to FAA records. That amount of fuel is unacceptable, controllers say.
Two more fuel shortages occurred within the next 20 minutes, each creating a "condition four" that typically prompts Newark Liberty to dispatch fire and rescue personnel and trucks.
Capt. Bob Perkins, a representative of the Air Line Pilots Association, said the airline industry needs to upgrade its technology so the aircraft can withstand safety risks.
For instance, the population of birds migrating from Canada has increased "four or fivefold," but a typical airplane can withstand a bird no heavier than 4 pounds striking its engines, he said. Many birds, he said, weight as much as 20 pounds.
"The industry is a little behind in making the airplane a little more robust for this kind of issue," Perkins said.
Controllers, however, say they've grown accustomed to dealing with incidents that force split-second decisions that ensure the planes' safety. Many times, passengers are unaware of these incidents when they take place.
"You could come within 100 feet of a plane — if you're not looking out the window, you won't see it," Adams said.
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