Local News
NEWARK, NJ - A new takeoff pattern aimed at easing congestion at Newark Liberty International Airport has confused some pilots and led to several incidents in which planes turned in the wrong direction, according to the union that represents air traffic controllers.
Three of the incidents, occurred in the last nine days, said Ray Adams, vice president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association union at Newark.
Many pilots aren't notified of the specifics of the new pattern until they are on the runway preparing to take off, Adams said.
Jim Peters, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, confirmed an incident on May 1 involving a United Airlines flight that turned the wrong way on departure. But he said FAA logs had no record of two separate incidents on May 8 involving planes operated by Virgin American and Continental.
Adams and Newark union president Ed Kragh contend, however, that a controller noted the incidents, which occurred within about an hour of each other, and notified a supervisor in writing.
None of the incidents placed planes in imminent danger, Adams said.
On a recording from the Newark air traffic control tower last month obtained by The Associated Press, pilots of several planes that are minutes from takeoff are heard expressing unfamiliarity with the new pattern.
"That's a negative," a JetBlue pilot says when a controller asks if he's familiar with it. "Here's how it's going to work," the controller begins.
Air traffic controllers at Newark have been pushing the FAA to "publish" the new pattern so that its chart is included in a book kept in every plane's cockpit. Peters said Friday the FAA won't publish it until more work is done on the overall airspace redesign.
Airlines were alerted to the new procedure by the FAA before it was instituted in December, and it is referred to in bulletins contained in the Airport Terminal Information Service, which pilots can access when they enter the cockpit and which also provides weather updates.
According to Kragh, that reference is not specific enough. He said when the new procedure was implemented, Newark controllers initially gave pilots specific information about the takeoff procedure when they first made contact with the tower, about 30 minutes before takeoff.
The new takeoff pattern from Newark is part of the first phase of a general redesign of the airspace around New York. The plan also included a cap on the number of flights at JFK Airport.
At Newark, planes departing to the southwest have historically turned to the left immediately on takeoff. Under the new procedure, they can be directed to turn to the right.
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