EWR: "Runway disaster waiting to happen?"
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Runway disaster waiting to happen?Eyewitness News Exclusive
Eyewitness News
(Newark - WABC, April 30, 2007) - Air traffic controllers at Newark Liberty Airport are speaking out and warning the public that the FAA is ignoring their worries about close calls at intersecting runways.
The Eyewitness News Investigators Jim Hoffer has this exclusive story.
For months, air traffic controllers at Newark held off talking to us on camera in hopes that the FAA would change the way they claim is a risky landing pattern involving intersecting runways. Days ago, they decided they were tired of waiting and it was time to tell their story.
It was a November day in 2005, air traffic controller Phil Wagner's worse day in his 12 years working the tower at Newark Liberty Airport.
"I'd say it was real close. The closest I've ever seen in my career," he said.
Two commercial jets were coming in for a landing at Newark at the same time on intersecting runways -- usually not a problem unless winds, poor visibility or timing forces one of the planes to abort its landing. And that's exactly what happened in this case. The pilot of the jet landing on runway 11 aborted his landing and started to climb directly into the path of the other plane landing on runway 22.
Air traffic controllers say there have been other close calls and there will be more in the future, because they say, landing planes simultaneously on intersecting runways especially when visibility is bad is just too risky.
"What's wrong with it is we're looking at is running two airplanes on converging courses that if one of the airplanes go around, they're going to hit somebody," said air traffic controller Russ Holleran.
For more than two years, Newark air traffic controllers have been urging the FAA to do something about this controversial procedure involving intersecting runways yet they still continue.
"All we're asking for is for the FAA to assist us in doing our jobs. It's our mandate to keep airplanes from colliding and we just want the tools and the help to do that," said air traffic controller Ray Adams.
One of those tools is the Converging Runway Display Aid, a radar that assists controllers in the safe landing of planes. But because of technical problems, it "has been disabled." Controllers say they need that radar or they need landings on intersecting runways to be staggered rather than simultaneous -- but that could slow down traffic.
Jim Hoffer: "Why does this continue? Is it because of capacity, because the FAA wants to get as many planes in as it can?"
Ray Adams: "FAA is under immense pressure to keep capacity high at Newark Airport. That pressure comes from the airlines."
In a response late today, the FAA said these landings are done "only in conditions where controllers can clearly see the incoming planes," adding "controllers are responsible for safe separation between airplanes."
And if there is a potential problem, "a controller is expected to use standard procedures to maintain safety, including asking one plane to abandon its landing and make a second approach."
That's exactly what this controller says he did and he swears it nearly led to a mid-air collision.
"This is a risky procedure and it needs to be stopped," Phil Wagner said.
The FAA says it only runs the intersecting landings during good weather. Controllers say even when it's clear, aiming two aircraft at each other leaves little margin for error.
