Kate Kelly

So rather than route that data straight from Newark to Philadelphia, the FAA, for whatever reason, decided we'll keep our feed from Newark to Long Island, and then we'll send it from Long Island to Philadelphia. In and of itself, with fast transmission in this day and age, that shouldn't be a problem. But technology experts tell me it has created latency issues like very slight delays.

So rather than route that data straight from Newark to Philadelphia, the FAA, for whatever reason, decided we'll keep our feed from Newark to Long Island, and then we'll send it from Long Island to Philadelphia. In and of itself, with fast transmission in this day and age, that shouldn't be a problem. But technology experts tell me it has created latency issues like very slight delays.

And it's also made that Philadelphia data feed vulnerable to other hiccups in the system.

And it's also made that Philadelphia data feed vulnerable to other hiccups in the system.

Yeah, that's right. And we saw a manifestation of that potential for failure last September 2nd. And what happened was that several of the radarscopes in the Philadelphia location where the newer controllers were working, froze up.

Yeah, that's right. And we saw a manifestation of that potential for failure last September 2nd. And what happened was that several of the radarscopes in the Philadelphia location where the newer controllers were working, froze up.

So there have been three outages that we know of, including the one that occurred last week. Wow. The first one I'll come back to in a second, because it's sort of a horse of a different color. But the one I was mentioning... And it resulted from the sort of pit stop idea that we were talking about. It essentially related to the fact that this data was traveling a little bit further.

So there have been three outages that we know of, including the one that occurred last week. Wow. The first one I'll come back to in a second, because it's sort of a horse of a different color. But the one I was mentioning... And it resulted from the sort of pit stop idea that we were talking about. It essentially related to the fact that this data was traveling a little bit further.

And the data stream that feeds into these Newark air traffic controller screens was affected by data issues at a different local airport that were sort of overstressing the system. And what was the third outage that you mentioned that you said was kind of different? So that one was a more significant disruption. It occurred last August 27th.

And the data stream that feeds into these Newark air traffic controller screens was affected by data issues at a different local airport that were sort of overstressing the system. And what was the third outage that you mentioned that you said was kind of different? So that one was a more significant disruption. It occurred last August 27th.

And what happened there was that an outside vendor working for the FAA accidentally clipped or unplugged literally a feed of data. Oh, my God. Yeah. So you could hear the air traffic controller who was dealing with the downed technology saying, attention all aircraft, radar contact is lost. Radar contact is lost when you listen to the audio recordings from that day.

And what happened there was that an outside vendor working for the FAA accidentally clipped or unplugged literally a feed of data. Oh, my God. Yeah. So you could hear the air traffic controller who was dealing with the downed technology saying, attention all aircraft, radar contact is lost. Radar contact is lost when you listen to the audio recordings from that day.

That was another 90-second outage.

That was another 90-second outage.

Yeah, I remember somebody who was around at the time told me they don't even necessarily care what the exact causes are of this outage, whether it's someone with a big pair of scissors or someone, you know, knocking a plug out of the wall. Regardless, this should be the Fort Knox of aviation data.

Yeah, I remember somebody who was around at the time told me they don't even necessarily care what the exact causes are of this outage, whether it's someone with a big pair of scissors or someone, you know, knocking a plug out of the wall. Regardless, this should be the Fort Knox of aviation data.

In other words, this should be an impenetrable system with multiple backups that is never permitted to fail.

In other words, this should be an impenetrable system with multiple backups that is never permitted to fail.

Yeah, Rachel, the technology really is problematic. But where you have a toxic combination here is when you throw in the fact that Newark has already been struggling for a while now with chronic staffing shortages. And all of that is impeding these controllers' ability to function.

Yeah, Rachel, the technology really is problematic. But where you have a toxic combination here is when you throw in the fact that Newark has already been struggling for a while now with chronic staffing shortages. And all of that is impeding these controllers' ability to function.