Duffy reveals a modernization plan for the air traffic control system: NPR

Transport Minister Sean Duffy says that he wanted a complete modernization of the nation's outdated flight control system within four years. On Thursday, he announced a far -reaching, esteemed, valued plan for several dollars, which is drastically revised by the current technology that is used by thousands of controllers who are responsible for the management of aircraft in and outside of airports.

Duffy and other officials from the Trump administration presented the ambitious modernization plan after several days of turbulence at Newark Liberty International Airport, one of the most busiest in the country.

“Many people said: This problem is too complicated, too expensive, too hard,” said Duffy at an event at the headquarters of the Ministry of Transport in Washington, DC, but we are blessed to have a president who actually likes to build and know how to build. “

He said President Trump “does not want to say goodbye to the next administration, the next secretary or the next victim”.

Duffy was Cagey about what this plan will cost. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee estimated last week that the modernization of the air traffic control system could cost $ 12.5 billion. Duffy said he estimates that this project will cost more.

The Modern Skies Coalition, a group of experts from the aviation industry, representatives of the pilot association and others, made an explanation that they believe that additional emergency financing of at least 18.5 billion US dollars should be appropriated in the next three years. And that is in addition to the annual budget for technologies and facilities of FAA.

The point suggests replacing the existing decades of telecommunications, radio and surveillance systems (which are currently dependent on things such as copper wires and disks) with modern technology. The plan also includes the investment in asphalt and airports, a new flight management system and some new flight control towers and other facilities, said Duffy.

The plan requires the approval of the congress and to do this within four years, the secretary calls on the congress of making financing in advance and not gradually available. Trump approved the plan and even connected Duffy at the press conference via loudspeakerphone.

Managers of airlines and sales representatives took part in the unveiling of the plan and expressed the full support of the proposal.

“We cannot step onto the can. We have to do it now,” said Nicholas Calio, President and CEO of Airlines for America, a trade association in the aviation industry.

The The plan takes place after years of assembly problems at airports and a number of incidents only this year.

In January, the mid -air collision of a Black Hawk helicopter of the army and a commercial airlines near Ronald Reagan Washington Washington National Airport (known under the airport code DCA) led to the deadliest flight accident in the USA since 2001. Delays and canceled at Newark Airport at Newark Airport, lane Airport.

The chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, Jennifer Homendy, expressed the full support for the plan on the grounds: “An aging system represents an unsustainable risk of security. I said it after the DCA, I will now say it again: An unsustainable risk of security.”

How does the chaos fit in this at Newark Airport?

Bad weather, the months of renovation one of the most busiest landingways in Newark for departure flights and a lack of air traffic people have led to more than a week of delays and cancellations at the airport.

On April 28, air traffic manager stationed in the control facility of the Terminal Radar approach in Philadelphia, which is responsible for the separation and sequencing of aircraft in Newark, lost all radar and communications with aircraft and they were unable to hear the pilots or to speak to the pilots for at least 30 seconds. Some controllers judged “to recover from the stress of several youngest failures,” said the Federal Aviation Administration in a statement.

The chaos in Newark has contributed to underline the aging air traffic technology on which the industry is dependent and the officials have suggested to do more.

In order to tackle the situation, the FAA announced several changes this week, including the introduction of three “new telecommunications connections with a high range” between the New York station, which processes radar data, and the location of Philadelphia, on which the controllers avoid the arrivals and departures from Newark. The old copper telecommunications connections receive an update for fiber-fiber-optical technologies, which enables a larger range and speed, said the agency.

Last week, Duffy announced a new recruitment Award and Retention Incentive program to increase the setting of controllers. However, the staff is not part of this new, wider proposal, which was introduced on Thursday.

A history of problems

After the latest chaos in Newark, the Trump government has against former President Joe Biden and the former transport secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has held her responsible for the problems with the air traffic control system.

Trump started his social report on social account on Thursday to say: “Air traffic problems caused by the incompetent bidges, as in this case a total beginner and a political hack, Pete B. I will repair it !!!”

During his first term in term, Trump discussed possible solutions – including the privatizing air traffic control – nowhere in the back.

After the Trump administration started in office for the second time, it dismissed hundreds of FAA employees to reduce employees. Officials said that controllers and other “critical security personnel” did not belong to the dismissed persons.

However, the problems with the civil aviation industry did not start with Newark, the crash on January 29 at DCA or the bidges.

Airlines and unions have asked the government to do more for decades.

As part of the bidges administration, Buttigieg asked the congress to provide more funds for the cessation of thousands of new air traffic controls. House Republicans blocked these efforts.

In September, the government's obligation to account for accountability announced that the FAA had to make drastic changes and quickly fix the aging air traffic control system.

The report found that the FAA in the previous year is more than a third of its systems “not sustainable and outdated outdated functionality, a lack of spare parts and more”. The report states that most modernization projects will not be completed for another 10-13 years.

Robert W. Mann Jr., an analyst of the aviation industry that spoke to NPR about the disorders at Newark at the beginning of this week, expressed skepticism that a new system was being built up.

“This has been the same mantra in the past 30 years. Give them more money. You will build the new system. It will work better, work harder. And that is what the airlines of the FAA say. The FAA says that it appears to be recovered every time the agency is restored. And we have been telling the same results for 30 years,” said Mangern.