An exclusive report by the New York Post claims that on Monday evening between 18:30 to 21:30, flights out of Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) were handled by just one air traffic controller and a trainee. The report quotes a New York-based controller describing the situation as “pure insanity.” It also noted that an FAA spokesperson said that there were at least three controllers scheduled for each hour on Monday night but did not clarify how many of them were fully certified personnel.
The New York Times reported something similar, adding that four people familiar with the situation said that the number of fully certified controllers on duty to manage Newark’s air traffic was sometimes one or two. These figures are shocking because the target number of controllers for Newark to manage traffic in those hours is around 14-15.
That controller should have walked off and notified media no flights should be handled by Newark until they get their shit together.
This type of heroics can kill people.
Usually, it’s a chain of errors/failures that leads to accidents, after the many years of dissecting and trying to prevent air disasters.
2002 Uberlingen collision is one such case where the reliance on a sole air traffic controller was part of that chain. And that was with one controller instead of the desired two. 50% headcount. Here it’s 1 or 2 instead of 14-15? That’s 7-14% headcount.
We know overworking people and understaffing introduce substantial risk to managing, assisting, and responding to flights. Even supposing this poor soul could adequately manage the workload by themselves, the introduction of a single problem could throw all of it off.
And it’s a shame that the ATC was murder. He had a small margin of blame, but not enough to kill over.
Yeah. Or the ATC could just tell all incoming planes to divert to another airport because it is “not safe to land”.
It would cause chaos and keep everyone a bit safer.
If there is only one ATC at the helm, precisely ZERO flights should come or go.
so the blame is on the last traffic controller left?
I’m glad I’m not the only one who gets annoying comments from people who can’t read
So that line is not placing blame on the traffic controller holding the tower together?
No, it’s not.
So saying the person who stayed behind to be a hero could have killed people is a compliment to that person?
No. It’s saying that the person who stayed behind to do their job (like a hero would do) should have just walked out the door … because if there had been any plane crashes (that killed passengers) that person would have been blamed for them.
Funny how you can say it in a way that does sound like you are not blaming this person…
Nothing happend so nobody is to blame for anything. IF something happened, then yes, the person would be held accountable, perhaps not too harshly, but still.
Same situation: long haul driver doesn’t get a second driver for a 14h run. Management shrugs, he drives for 12, falls asleep and kills someone. He is responsible, but he perhaps was also coerced, and the responsibility is on a company as well.
Not everything is clear cut, as much as we’d like.
It’s funny how I can understand how capitalism has warped our understanding of work, where putting my life, my mental health and/or the lives of others on the line is accepted practice?
Not at all. It just takes some reading and understanding of history.
I assume they are frustrated and they’re talking about how a good heroic outcome has sinister alternatives at every fork in the road. Different people react differently and the people who heroically soldier on are not simply saving the day, they are like an extension of dangerous policy. They’re never going to talk to the controller so it’s more general I think. Like “don’t be a hero, don’t be like this guy, if your bosses create a deadly environment then walk away”
Edit: I can be hypocritical and an asshole so if I say try assuming people are correct, might want to just ignore me.
No, I like your take and while I still disagree on focusing on the most vulnerable person in the chain, at least the way you describe it makes sense as it includes the entire decision making chain.
Thanks for taking the time to explain.