OT: Newark airport

[ashokan]

ATCs on "trauma leave."

https://nypost.com/2025/05/05/us-ne...-took-45-day-trauma-leave-after-failures-faa/

SpaceX sent engineers to help fix FAA mess.

https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/...-faa-after-probationary-employees-were-fired/

FAA hacks, service interruptions, Boeing planes losing doors and wheels, inept pilots flipping planes over - its been obvious air travel has been a mess for awhile. I knew last year I would not fly anywhere.

This week I heard a European journalist say that (after a couple of months traveling around the country) the US "looks like a country that lost a war." It did if you include Ukraine and the billion flushed in folly

 

[Colbert17!]

Are the problems at Newark mostly departures or both? Coming back for my summer visit and I need to decide if I should come arrive at Newark or Philly.

 

[Knight Shift]

ATCs on "trauma leave."

https://nypost.com/2025/05/05/us-ne...-took-45-day-trauma-leave-after-failures-faa/

SpaceX sent engineers to help fix FAA mess.

https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/...-faa-after-probationary-employees-were-fired/

FAA hacks, service interruptions, Boeing planes losing doors and wheels, inept pilots flipping planes over - its been obvious air travel has been a mess for awhile. I knew last year I would not fly anywhere.

This week I heard a European journalist say that (after a couple of months traveling around the country) the US "looks like a country that lost a war." It did if you include Ukraine and the billion flushed in folly

The second arstechnica article (sourced from WIRED) is interesting, but a bit old.

WTF was the European journalist talking about? Now she should do Europe.

 

[Knight Shift]

Are the problems at Newark mostly departures or both? Coming back for my summer visit and I need to decide if I should come arrive at Newark or Philly.

Incoming have it worse from my observation on flightaware.com . You may want to check out that website, and you can type in flight numbers to see how incoming flights are doing from your locale (Bangkok?).

 

[Joey Bags]

The outage was a blip, the main issue is the fact only 1 runway is in use for the foreseeable future. Used to have one for landings and one for departures. Crosswind runway is rarely used.

The rest of this is noise in the media, be all end all is this is NOT a 1 runway airport. United is making the correct decision to scale back flights.

 

[RU848789]

I get that. Stressful job. Very stressful.

But that’s what you signed up for. There isn’t a draft to be an air traffic controller with the goal to work at a major airport.

I think you need to put yourself in the shoes of the ATC's who spent probably the most harrowing 90 seconds of their lives, not knowing whether any of their planes had crashed - and that there was nothing they could do about it. These are professionals who care about their jobs, deeply, as they keep working 60 hour weeks despite the pressure, so having a few of them taking some leave time (nobody "walked off" the job, according to reports I've read), to me isn't unexpected. Also, there has been a bipartisan failure for the last 40 years to replace the ATCs that Reagan fired - and to upgrade the ATC communications/radars that help these folks do their jobs.

However, there is little doubt that the cuts at the FAA of over 400 staff, many of whom were safety professionals (remember, "probationary" employees includes many top employees who were recently promoted and "new" to their jobs), as well as the elimination of the membership of the congressionally mandated Aviation Security Committee, combined with the pernicious effects of denigrating all civil servants, is not a great combination for ATC/aviation morale, safety and efficiency. And like many other leadership positions in this administration, the Dept. of Transportation is headed now by Sean Duffy, someone with no transportation experience, and the FAA, which is part of the DOT, still hasn't named a full time head yet. We deserve better.

https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/newark-airport-delays-stretch-into-another-week/

 

[JerseyNoles]

I was supposed to fly from Norfolk to EWR on Thursday evening via United
Changed it from Norfolk to Philly via American

Cancelled flights
Air traffic control going out
Delays
And overall chaos in the skies, and on the ground

I don't mind traveling for work - that's what I'm paid to do
But I'm not taking unessacessary risks, and inconvienceing myself, due to the airlines negliance

This is third world country stuff
Enough is enough already

 

[rufeelinit]

I think you need to put yourself in the shoes of the ATC's who spent probably the most harrowing 90 seconds of their lives, not knowing whether any of their planes had crashed - and that there was nothing they could do about it. These are professionals who care about their jobs, deeply, as they keep working 60 hour weeks despite the pressure, so having a few of them taking some leave time (nobody "walked off" the job, according to reports I've read), to me isn't unexpected. Also, there has been a bipartisan failure for the last 40 years to replace the ATCs that Reagan fired - and to upgrade the ATC communications/radars that help these folks do their jobs.

However, there is little doubt that the cuts at the FAA of over 400 staff, many of whom were safety professionals (remember, "probationary" employees includes many top employees who were recently promoted and "new" to their jobs), as well as the elimination of the membership of the congressionally mandated Aviation Security Committee, combined with the pernicious effects of denigrating all civil servants, is not a great combination for ATC/aviation morale, safety and efficiency. And like many other leadership positions in this administration, the Dept. of Transportation is headed now by Sean Duffy, someone with no transportation experience, and the FAA, which is part of the DOT, still hasn't named a full time head yet. We deserve better.

https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/newark-airport-delays-stretch-into-another-week/

There is no disputing what I highlighted from this post. Just another example of us failing to address an undisputed flaw in the operation of a key segment of our economy and way of life. When will we learn that you just can't keep kicking these cans down the road with no consequences?

I have a friend whose son has been in the "interview/onboarding" process with the FAA for nearly a year. If they recently cut 400 probationary employees it is easy to understand how any new hiring program has probably be put into a deep freeze. I would like more details on the specific safety roles these individual had and how the "'performance" determination was made. I believe their union rep maintains these individuals were even around long enough to have an annual performance appraisal. Probationary employees are the low hanging fruit for DOGE.

 

[newell138]

I think you need to put yourself in the shoes of the ATC's who spent probably the most harrowing 90 seconds of their lives, not knowing whether any of their planes had crashed - and that there was nothing they could do about it. These are professionals who care about their jobs, deeply, as they keep working 60 hour weeks despite the pressure, so having a few of them taking some leave time (nobody "walked off" the job, according to reports I've read), to me isn't unexpected. Also, there has been a bipartisan failure for the last 40 years to replace the ATCs that Reagan fired - and to upgrade the ATC communications/radars that help these folks do their jobs.

However, there is little doubt that the cuts at the FAA of over 400 staff, many of whom were safety professionals (remember, "probationary" employees includes many top employees who were recently promoted and "new" to their jobs), as well as the elimination of the membership of the congressionally mandated Aviation Security Committee, combined with the pernicious effects of denigrating all civil servants, is not a great combination for ATC/aviation morale, safety and efficiency. And like many other leadership positions in this administration, the Dept. of Transportation is headed now by Sean Duffy, someone with no transportation experience, and the FAA, which is part of the DOT, still hasn't named a full time head yet. We deserve better.

https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/newark-airport-delays-stretch-into-another-week/

Agree that this has been an issue over many administrations but calling out Sean Duffy? Did the last guy have any experience? He took a 2 month leave of absence to have a baby during the supply chain crisis and got caught pretending to ride a bike to work.

 

[e5fdny]

I think you need to put yourself in the shoes of the ATC's who spent probably the most harrowing 90 seconds of their lives, not knowing whether any of their planes had crashed - and that there was nothing they could do about it. These are professionals who care about their jobs, deeply, as they keep working 60 hour weeks despite the pressure, so having a few of them taking some leave time (nobody "walked off" the job, according to reports I've read), to me isn't unexpected. Also, there has been a bipartisan failure for the last 40 years to replace the ATCs that Reagan fired - and to upgrade the ATC communications/radars that help these folks do their jobs.

* However, there is little doubt that the cuts at the FAA of over 400 staff, many of whom were safety professionals (remember, "probationary" employees includes many top employees who were recently promoted and "new" to their jobs), as well as the elimination of the membership of the congressionally mandated Aviation Security Committee, combined with the pernicious effects of denigrating all civil servants, is not a great combination for ATC/aviation morale, safety and efficiency. And like many other leadership positions in this administration, the Dept. of Transportation is headed now by Sean Duffy, someone with no transportation experience, and the FAA, which is part of the DOT, still hasn't named a full time head yet. We deserve better.

https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/newark-airport-delays-stretch-into-another-week/

When they walk in mine, they can decide what real stress is.

* None of them were air traffic controllers. And that sounds more like an excuse for a “job action” instead of stress.

“DO YOUR JOB” - BIll Cowher (NFL Films)

 

[iReC89]

Drove past Newark last night and though I saw a plane drop out of the low clouds and land over a plane lined up to take off. Maybe they were on separate runways, but it looked scary. A lot of planes away from the gate to keep track of.

Maybe controllers are doing their job telling people to avoid Newark.

 

[yesrutgers01]

Traveled to Florida on Friday, mid morning flight , took off actually a few minutes early. Came home about 30 minutes ago , 8 hours later then I was supposed to.

I think it was a combination of weather and EWR being a mess this past week. I have to say though. I haven't been in Terminal A in years and WOW , what a great job they did.

Which airline did you fly?
My wife comes back from Atlanta on Sunday via United. Hoping she isn’t delayed.

 

[Knight Shift]

Back to Newark airport, day 9 of more delays. Flightaware.com says inbound flights delayed at their origin an average of 2 hours 41 minutes.

 

[MulletCork]

I flew home from Ft. Myers, FL yesterday and felt grateful to land only 40 minutes late, compared to our scheduled arrival time. They held us at Ft. Myers for maybe an hour due to the Newark situation but landed around 4pm, versus 3:20pm or so. Down in FL though, I did see some flights canceled on the board that were heading to Newark.

 

[NotInRHouse_anon]

Will stick to there were no overtones in my post. Yes, every administration has "loser" appointees. This one, the previous one, and the ones before that. Actually 45's first appointee, Elaine Chao, had a fabulous resume, but not sure what she did while Sec. of Transportation. But the one before her, may be the worst of the bunch. Don't understand why for such an important post, people with light resumes are put in that post, but that's politics, no matter what the party.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaine_Chao

I look at results.

We haven't this many air disasters or a meltdown like what's going on in EWR in decades.

Sorry it's hard to believe it's random, especially when this isn't the only transportation chaos in the country, or even close to it.

 

[RULoyal]

I look at results.

We haven't this many air disasters or a meltdown like what's going on in EWR in decades.

Sorry it's hard to believe it's random, especially when this isn't the only transportation chaos in the country, or even close to it.

But as it turns out, through April 12, there were 52 more plane crashes in 2024 than there were in 2025, according to the National Transportation Safety Board's monthly aviation dashboard. And there were six more fatal plane crashes through April 12, 2024, than there were during the same period in 2025.

 

[tru2ru1]

Son & DIL flew out of Newark last Wednesday to Sarasota on United, their 5:30 pm flight took off at 3am, returning tonite & they are now flying into LaGuardia to avoid what is going on in Newark.

 

[vkj91]

I get that. Stressful job. Very stressful.

But that’s what you signed up for. There isn’t a draft to be an air traffic controller with the goal to work at a major airport.

They took medical leave so they could keep getting paid while pouting out the issues. That simple.

 

[e5fdny]

They took medical leave so they could keep getting paid while pouting out the issues. That simple.

A job action.

 

[RC1978]

Which airline did you fly?
My wife comes back from Atlanta on Sunday via United. Hoping she isn’t delayed.

United

 

[MrsScrew_rivals32693]

Horrifying audio from ATC during the outage " I don't know where you are"

 

[tru2ru1]

No, the walkout has nothing to do with the firings. In fact, it has nothing to do with Musk or the current administration. Seems like you are really working overtime to pin blame on them. The walkout is because of the equipment failures. They are trying to shed light on old faulty equipment

The news last night reported that the control towers are still using copper wiring & floppy disks circa 1985

 

[RutgersLifeR]

I'm taking my family to Orlando mid July on United. I didn't book the return trip but I'm thinking to just fly back to Trenton. TTN is such a stress free airport and closer to home.

I've had so many problems with United over the years. I'm hoping by then these issues at Newark will be resolved.

 

[ru66]

Some of you guys are really provincial-- try Laguardia if you can-- it's completely redone and is a terrific airport

 

[Captain Hogleg]

Are the problems at Newark mostly departures or both? Coming back for my summer visit and I need to decide if I should come arrive at Newark or Philly.

Go to Philly. Flights in to Newark are completely screwed up

 

[vkj91]

Think the key is taking early flight. Daughter landed at 8am today in Newark. Zero issues

 

[vkj91]

I look at results.

We haven't this many air disasters or a meltdown like what's going on in EWR in decades.

Sorry it's hard to believe it's random, especially when this isn't the only transportation chaos in the country, or even close to it.

Very true. Nothing random about planned runway construction. Keep up the good fight. You are doing swell!

 

[RU206]

Wasn’t this amazing infrastructure bill made law almost 4 years ago? Wasn’t there a chunk of money to modernize airports in it? Well where is it?

https://www.faa.gov/iija/airport-infrastructure

 

[koleszar]

And I see no issue taking a leave to take care of premature newborn infant twins, but it should also be noted that while on leave he still consulted on major agency decisions and matters that could not be delegated.

You say this like he worked at the local Home Depot. When in fact no cabinet member has ever taken such an extensive leave. His own party even raised eyebrows at the move as cabinet members are appointed, and they know this isn't a call out job. Especially when a transportation secretary is taking one during the greatest supply chain crisis since WW II.

 

[tom1944]

https://www.faa.gov/iija/airport-infrastructure

It looks like Newark has not received funds yet.

 

[koleszar]

I look at results.

We haven't this many air disasters or a meltdown like what's going on in EWR in decades.

Sorry it's hard to believe it's random, especially when this isn't the only transportation chaos in the country, or even close to it.

United has been trying to get the FAA to reduce flights into Newark for years. The FAA ignored them, they knew the airport was well past compacity and the FAA did nothing. Now you get the planned main runway reconstruction, 1 of only 2 and there's nothing random about this. United knew it was going to happen and was prepared for it to happen, that's not random. You want to blame somebody to fit an agenda, an agenda that's simply not there.

 

[vkj91]

https://www.faa.gov/iija/airport-infrastructure

Key points about the IIJA's impact on airports:

• $14.5 Billion for Airport Infrastructure Grants:
  The AIG program, part of the IIJA, provides significant funding for airport projects, according to the FAA.
  
  
• Focus on Repairs and Maintenance:
  A portion of the funding is dedicated to addressing the backlog of airport repair and maintenance needs.
  
  
• Congestion and Emission Reduction:
  The IIJA aims to reduce congestion and emissions near airports.
  
  
• Low-Carbon Technologies:
  The law supports the development and implementation of low-carbon technologies in airports.
  
  
• Broader Transportation Investments:
  The IIJA includes a broader range of infrastructure projects, including roads, bridges, and public transit, which can also impact airports.
• 
  
• 
  
• If everyone knew ATC terminals and tech was so bad shouldn’t that be the priority? Don’t get me wrong I love the new Terminal A but working radar is pretty cool too

 

[koleszar]

Some of you guys are really provincial-- try Laguardia if you can-- it's completely redone and is a terrific airport

Luckily my wife booked a direct flight to Tokyo out of JFK months ago. Although I heard international flights aren't as impacted as domestics at Newark. Kind of makes sense that they take priority.

 

[newell138]

Go to Philly. Flights in to Newark are completely screwed up

Philly has its issues but for the most part it’s not bad

 

[RU206]

That’s my point. The bill was for like a trillion dollars. You’d think this would have been a top 5 project.

I agree.

 

[Knight Shift]

Back to EWR, at this moment, no flight delays listed on flightaware.com .

 

[newwavedave1]

One more reason not to fly to NJ.

 

[RU206]

Back to EWR, at this moment, no flight delays listed on flightaware.com .

My mother and sister were supposed to fly this afternoon to Miami on United. last night the flight was canceled. They were able to book a different airline out of Philly.

 

[Jtung230]

One more reason not to fly to NJ.

Welcome to NJ we don’t like you either

 

[e5fdny]

I think monies in the infrastructure bill were geared towards hard projects such as runway expansion projects, new terminals, public transportation access at airports, etc.

I know this won't be popular with some, but these system issues span quite a few presidents including Bush, Obama, Biden and yes, Trump. Cost overruns, equipment/operating systems that couldn't handle updates, etc. Verizon was the latest to help with the upgrades and they have had issues which prompted Musk to try to get Starlink to take over the contract, which was quickly shot down by the DOT.

It seems most in this thread realize this and have acknowledged it.