May 20 (UPI) — The Newark airport task force is discussing solutions to communications issues that grounded multiple flights over the past month while the air traffic industry struggles with shortages.
The Federal Aviation Administration’s newly-formed task force with representatives from Verizon and L3Harris convened its first meeting last week. It is responding to at least three incidents in which air traffic controllers for Newark Liberty International Airport lost their primary communication lines with aircrafts in flight.
The FAA reports that low staffing levels and low training success are contributing factors to congestion and flight delays at the airport. It held meetings with airlines from Wednesday through Friday.
From the meeting, several solutions were proposed to address congestion and flight delays. The FAA proposed a maximum arrival and departure rate of 28 aircraft per hour until the construction of another runway is complete. When that is complete, it recommends a maximum arrival rate of 34 aircraft per hour until Oct. 25.
The FAA is adding additional telecommunications connections between New York’s Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System and Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control Area C. It is also replacing copper telecommunications lines with fiberoptic lines which have greater bandwidth and speed.
Newark Liberty International is operating under a unique configuration of air traffic control technology, according to Dave Spero, national president of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists. He explained to UPI the transition it has undergone since last summer.
PASS represents 11,000 FAA employees but it does not represent air traffic controllers.
Philadelphia TRACON Area C has taken on the responsibility of directing aircraft at Newark Liberty International Airport since June. This transition involved moving automation equipment and staff to the Philadelphia location from the New York Terminal Radar Approach Control.
“So to do that, they’ve got to sort of duplicate that environment,” Spero told UPI. “You’ve got to send all the technology there to Philadelphia just as if it were in the same building it was in before. All the communications that they had, all of the automation equipment which produces the aircraft targets on their displays, the flight data that allows an aircraft controller to know the range and the air speed, everything that corresponds to air traffic control needs to be taken down to Philadelphia.”
“The problem that they’ve encountered is that the external communication lines that take all that information down to Philadelphia and put it on the displays have been failing,” Spero continued.
This equipment is handled by a third party under the purview of L3Harris, an aerospace and defense contractor based in Melbourne, Fla.
On Monday, Philadelphia TRACON Area C reported that it lost radio frequencies for about two seconds at about 11:35 a.m. ET. The FAA is investigating the incident but all aircraft remained at a safe distance from each other.
The task force is investigating the multiple potential reasons for the failures, with the involvement of Verizon and L3Harris in the task force indicating to Spero that the communication lines are the main suspect.
“It’s really not the equipment that’s causing the failure. It’s the communication in between,” Spero said. “The equipment our folks maintain is working just as it should. Frankly, if something goes wrong with the communication line or something was wrong in New York, those technicians in Philadelphia can’t do anything about it. Either the communication company or the technicians in New York have to get into the automation and see what’s happening with the software, which is not what the errors have been.”
The issue in Newark highlights bigger issues facing the U.S. air travel infrastructure. The nationwide shortage of air traffic controllers has been reported to Congress but there is also a shortage of technicians — specialists who maintain, repair, troubleshoot and certify the transportation systems used by air traffic controllers.
There are about 4,800 transportation systems specialists in the United States. They are responsible for technical equipment across 400 airports and about 70,000 facilities, according to Spero.
According to the FAA’s “Transportation Operations staffing model” about 800 more technicians are needed. Meanwhile the average age of the current specialist workforce is in its mid-50s with 34% 55 years old or older.
As a large portion of this workforce nears retirement, the government is preparing to take on a large-scale overhaul of its infrastructure. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced earlier this month that he aims to replace the nation’s air traffic control system.
The FAA plans to increase controller staffing at Philadelphia TRACON Area C. It did not mention adding specialists in its readout of last week’s meeting.
Replacing the air traffic control system makes the need for more airway transportation systems specialists even more crucial, Spero said.
“It’s an enormous challenge,” Spero said. “It’s like changing tires on a vehicle when it’s going 70 mph. You can’t stop providing services while you’re creating a new service. If we’re going to start to rebuild this air traffic control system and start to put other new technologies out there and replace equipment then this workforce is going to be integral to that solution.”
A 2023 report from the Office of the Inspector General advised that it takes about a year and a half to promote a newly-hired maintenance technician to the level of journeyman. Prior to that, specialists undergo three years of training at the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center in Oklahoma City.
The Inspector General recommended that the FAA establish a maintenance technician workforce plan that acknowledges more than a year is needed to prepare for staffing turnover, as well as three other recommendations. That recommendation has not been adopted while the other three have.
Having a workforce shortage also impacts the progress of new hires.
“What’s happening now is when someone retires, one of their coworkers has to take on the workload of that individual,” Spero explained. “‘So now I double my workload and also am going to have to train the new person that comes on.’ Those are challenges that they have.”
