Imagine that you're a pilot on the way to a major airport. However, before you arrive, you lose contact with air traffic controllers. That's exactly what recently happened at New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport.
The airport is having issues, y'all. Audio recordings capture a confused pilot asking air traffic control, "Approach, are you there?" The plane was headed to the airport from New Orleans. The pilot had radio air traffic controllers five times trying to get clearance to land. However, he was met with only silence — 30 seconds of silence to be exact.
LiveATC.net shared the clip of the tense interaction.
"United 1951, how do you hear me?" the controller finally responded.
The relieved pilot said, "I got you loud and clear, United 1951."
This comes after an air traffic controller revealed to a Newark-bound flight from Charleston that the "radar contact was lost." "We lost our radar so just stay on the arrival and maintain 6000 (feet)," they said.
Air Traffic Control Loses Contact
The incidents are concerning to travelers. They come after Newark suffered numerous cancellations and delays due to staffing issues. On April 28, the airport lost contact with flights, according to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. So what's being done about air traffic control at the airport?
"The primary communication line went down, the backup line didn't fire, and 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."
The Federal Aviation Administration has blamed issues at the airport on the lack of staff and a shortage of air traffic controllers. United CEO Scott Kirby confirmed that there's been an issue with staffing at the airport for years.
"This particular air traffic control facility has been chronically understaffed for years and without these controllers, 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," Kirby said.
It's likely that this played a role in the scary moments above.
