For more than a week, flights have been delayed and cancelled at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, citing Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) staffing issues, repairs, and even equipment malfunctions. Now, an audio recording of a conversation between pilots and an air traffic controller has surfaced, showing the tense moments lived at Newark Airport.
Videos by Wide Open Country
In a clip recorded by LiveATC.net and reported by the New York Post, a United Airlines pilot attempts to contact one controller multiple times. Instead of hearing a response, the pilot was met with radio silence for about 30 seconds. Eventually, however, communication was established.
"United 1951, how do you hear me?" the air traffic controller asked the United Airlines pilot. The pilot, probably exhaling a sigh of relief, answered, "I got you loud and clear, United 1951."
Similarly, another pilot coming from South Carolina was told by an air traffic controller that they had lost their radar. "We lost our radar, so just stay on the arrival and maintain 6000 (feet)," the controller told the pilot.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy spoke with Fox News, addressing the 30 seconds in which air traffic controllers lost contact with incoming aircraft at Newark Airport on April 28.
"The primary communication line went down, the backup line didn't fire. So for 30 seconds, we lost contact with air traffic," Duffy said. "Now were planes going to crash? No. They have communication devices. But it's a sign that we have a frail system in place, and it has to be fixed."
Flights Delayed And Cancelled
According to FlightAware, since Saturday, May 3, a total of 1,673 flights were delayed at Newark Airport. At the same time, 525 flights were cancelled in the same period. Newark Airport previously posted on X that the FAA staffing issues, along with a runway closure, as reported by Fox Business, have contributed to the delays in addition to the radar malfunction.
According to United CEO Scott Kirby, a total of 20% of all Newark Airport controllers have walked off the job.
"This particular air traffic control facility has been chronically understaffed for years and without these controllers," Kirby said. "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."
However, the controllers' union and the FAA stated that air traffic controllers had taken absences. This was an effect of the stress they had suffered due to the "multiple recent outages."
