Lone newark air traffic controller who handled terrifying 90-second outage reveals it’s ‘only a matter of time before we have a fatal crash’

A veteran air traffic controller who was alone during the terrifying 90-second blackout at Newark Liberty International Airport refuses to fly out of the travel hub anymore — saying it’s

“only a matter of time” before there’s a “fatal crash.” The 39-year-old worker, who authored an anonymous essay to The Times, said she is too traumatized to work – now out on stress-related

leave and undergoing psychological evaluation – after the sudden outage knocked out crucial communications at America’s second business airport around 4 a.m. on May 9. The power failure

followed an equally-long one on April 28 and another in November.  “Do I think it’s safe to fly from or to the airport?” the woman, who has worked as an air traffic controller for 16 years,

queried.  “Let me put it like this: I deliberately avoid my own airport when booking flights, even if the alternatives are more expensive and less convenient. If Newark’s air traffic control

problems don’t get fixed, I believe it’s only a matter of time before we have a fatal crash between two planes.” The chaos at the Garden State airport, which has seen hundreds of flight

cancellations, diversions, delays and life-threatening technical glitches in recent weeks, has left the woman in fear for the safety of flyers. EXPLORE MORE The Federal Aviation

Administration continues to overwhelm the faulty infrastructure and already burnt-out controllers, the woman wrote.  She noted that about one third of Newark’s controllers have taken trauma

leave due to the perilous atmosphere – leaving fewer workers managing New Jersey’s airways. “My experiences at Newark have left me so hopeless,” she wrote.  “I thought safety was paramount

but I’m shocked at the way corners are being cut behind our backs. I don’t write this because I want our working conditions to improve – which, of course, I do – but to raise alarm. If the

authorities don’t fix this mess immediately, people will pay with their lives.” The woman said issues started last summer when government officials moved Newark’s air controllers from Long

Island – where workers oversaw aircraft traffic to Newark and New York’s LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy airports – to Philadelphia.  The relocation meant the team serving New Jersey’s airport

shrunk from about 30 to 24 certified controllers, “jeopardized” workers’ ability to manage the more than 1,000 planes that fly to and from the international travel hub daily.  “In recent

months, when it’s been especially busy, Newark’s controllers have been forced to work a dozen aeroplanes at once,” she said.  “This makes it nearly impossible to reliably communicate with

pilots, who will interrupt one another’s transmissions as they fly in from high altitudes, where they’ll be speaking to other air traffic controllers, and radio me for guidance. Things can

get very heated,” she continued. The series of terrifying outages have put Newark in the national spotlight over issues with staffing shortages and its decades-old technology. 

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy previously blamed the Biden administration for allegedly botching last year’s move of Newark’s air traffic control from New York to Philadelphia – but

claims he’s working to update the facility.  The FAA is now proposing a large-scale reduction of traffic at the airport to just 28 arrivals per hour. “But once the headlines stop, I wouldn’t

be surprised if it returns to how it was,” the woman wrote. “The FAA cares more about keeping airlines happy.”