New air traffic control incidents at two busy East Coast airports lengthened a string of accidents and near misses that began when Trump slashed personnel at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). In Newark, N.J., which serves New York City, repeated systems failures afflicting air-traffic control operations prompted 20 percent of controllers to walk out. United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby, whose company operates a hub at Newark, described flight-control operations there as “chronically understaffed” and indefinitely canceled 35 daily roundtrip flights from the airport. One controller at Newark reportedly told NBC News: “It is not safe. It is not a safe situation right now for the flying public.”
@abcnews Radar screens went black at Newark International Airport early Friday morning for the second time in as many weeks. “Right now things are back on … but there are still delays at Newark,” ABC News Transportation Producer Sam Sweeney said. Newark Airport has been facing an air traffic controller shortage. #airtravel #newark #news #abcnews
Meanwhile, in an air traffic control incident at Washington National Airport — where a tragic collision between a passenger flight and a military helicopter killed 67 people in January — a military helicopter took a “scenic route” near the airport’s flight path in late April, causing two incoming planes to abort their approaches. The Army helicopter brigade involved in the collision had resumed its flight operations in the Washington area only a week earlier.