New Radar Technology Needed in New York Airports
Plans to introduce more modern ground surveillence radar systems at New York's three major airports should be speeded up, according to Senator Charles Schumer.
Schumer believes more sophisticated radar equipment and collision avoidance systems must be installed at John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark as a matter of urgency in the wake of last Thursday's near-collision at Newark Liberty Airport involving two Continential Airlines aircraft.
New York Airports to improve their Radar Systems
Currently, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) plans call for the New York airports to have more modern radar systems in place by 2010. Such systems are already in place at Chicago and Atlanta.
Schumer says this is unacceptable, arguing JFK, LaGuardia and Newark are so busy and of such importance to the air travel network that they should take priority over others.
He said: "Here we are, the most crowded airport area around, and we're scheduled to the bottom of the list. It just doesn't make any sense. We're asking they move us right up."
Accordingly, the Senator said he has asked Acting FAA Administrator Robert Sturgell to speed up the installation process for the technology in New York.
However, FAA Eastern Region spokesman Jim Peters said there is unlikely to be any change to the current plans, owing to sheer complexity of the installation work required at the New York airports.
Decrease in Near Miss incidents
Peters said: "We just don't go into a store and pick it off the shelf. We have to develop schedules and sites have to be engineered. That work is ongoing in New York."
He said that despite the incident at Newark, which involved a Continental Airlines aircraft taxying onto a runway where another Continental flight was about to land, there has been a decrease in the number of 'near-miss' incidents at two out of the three New York airports during fiscal year 2007.
This year, there were seven "runway incidents" compared to 13 in fiscal year 2006. All these incidents, he stated, were classified by the FAA as "minor".
Peters added that the two aircraft involved in last week's Newark incident, where the aircraft came within 300 feet of each other, was still being investigated.
Source - Airport International's US Correspondent
