New Air Traffic Control System Plan Unveiled by Transportation Secretary After Near Collision at LaGuardia Airport
Earlier this month, a Republic Airways jet was forced to abort its takeoff at New York’s LaGuardia Airport to avoid a collision with a United Airlines plane still crossing the runway. The incident is currently being investigated by federal officials from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
According to a spokesperson from the FAA, an air traffic controller at LaGuardia Airport had to cancel the takeoff clearance for Republic Airways Flight 4736 due to United Airlines Flight 2657 taxiing on the same runway. Tower audio recordings, obtained by ABC News from LiveATC. net, capture the controller saying “Sorry, I thought United had cleared well before that.
The incident occurred around 12:35 a. m. on May 6 and has raised concerns about the effectiveness of the airport’s advanced surface radar system, known as ASDE-X. This system is designed to prevent close calls by allowing controllers to track planes and vehicles on the ground. However, despite LaGuardia being one of the 35 airports in the U. S. equipped with ASDE-X, there are still nearly 500 towered airports that rely on low-tech tools, such as binoculars, due to the high cost of the technology.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has expressed his desire to expand the ASDE-X system to more airports, pending approval from Congress for his proposed overhaul of the country’s air traffic control system. In a statement earlier this month, Duffy stated, “Decades of neglect have left us with an outdated system that is showing its age. Building this new system is an economic and national security necessity, and the time to fix it is now.
However, as seen in this incident and other close calls in recent years, even advanced technology is not immune to errors. This highlights the need for continuous improvements and updates to ensure the safety of air travel.
FOX Business has reached out to Republic Airways and United Airlines for comment on the incident.