Air traffic controller says he won't fly out of Newark Airport after harrowing equipment failures
A Newark air traffic controller says he's not sure if he'll ever return to the job after several equipment failures caused some air traffic controllers to lose communication with pilots in late April and May.
Jonathan Stewart and several of his colleagues who handle Newark's airspace took trauma leave after the harrowing incidents.
Stewart said the reason he's unsure whether he'll go back is because of the stress.
CBS News New York investigator Tim McNicholas spoke to Stewart in the following interview.
"I yelled some choice words, I actually cried a little bit"
Stewart says as he tries to de-stress, he's spending more time on his hobbies, like shooting at his favorite range.
"I'll tell you, the biggest thing for me was just sleep. Like getting on some sort of regular sleep once the nightmares subsided like a week ago," he said.
Stewart says up until about a week ago, he had been having nightmares about plane crashes, triggered by an incident involving two planes that took off from Teterboro and Morristown on May 3.
The Air Force veteran says he saw the planes were at risk of a head-on, midair collision and alerted the pilots in time for them to move, but it was far too close for his comfort.
"I yelled some choice words. I actually cried a little bit, I'm not gonna lie. I was really angry. Because I don't make mistakes like that," Stewart said.
He says he was overworked from staffing shortages and distracted because, even though the radar was working that day, he was also tracking planes using a pen and paper as a precaution.
That's because on April 28, before his shift, Stewart's colleagues lost radar and communications with planes in Newark's airspace for 30-90 seconds, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
"What was it like when you got there that day?" McNicholas asked.
"It was bad ... There were guys pacing around on the phone trying to figure out what was going on. I walked in, one of the supervisors was talking to himself and sweating profusely," Stewart said.
It was one of several concerning equipment failures Newark's air traffic controllers dealt with in late April and May.
"It's not fair to blame the Trump administration. It's not fair to blame the Biden administration. If you're gonna blame somebody, you blame Reagan and everybody after him because nobody has done anything meaningful up until this point," Stewart said.
"I personally am not gonna fly out of Newark"
The FAA says it is taking steps to try to improve air traffic communications and prevent further outages, including a recent software update and a reduction in the airport's flight schedules.
Stewart says, after talking with an FAA official this week, he's more optimistic about the agency's plans to hire and train more controllers.
"Cautiously optimistic. I personally am not gonna fly out of Newark. To each their own," Stewart said. "Because I'm not satisfied with the level of safety. Until I see it in action and I know for sure that the steps that are being taken will effectively mitigate risks to as little as possible."
United States Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has said it is safe to fly out of Newark.
"Because we have such a great team that focuses day in and day out on the flying public safety," he said on June 2.
Stewart says the FAA worsened controller challenges last summer when it relocated Stewart and 23 other Newark Liberty International Airport controllers from a facility on Long Island to Philadelphia.
A CBS News New York investigation revealed that move caused 817 Newark flight delays within the first two weeks of the relocation as the controllers settled in. Stewart describes those first two weeks as "chaotic."
That rollout has drawn bi-partisan criticism. In early May, Sen. Chuck Schumer said he believed the move to Philadelphia "made the problem worse," and Duffy has said fiber lines should have been laid before the move.
Stewart has a more personal criticism.
"The way that they did this, you take us away from our families, away from all of our friends, away from our coworkers that we have camaraderie with, that we work well with, and you put us in another state," he said.
The FAA says there are currently 14 experienced controllers in training for Newark and the agency hopes to get them fully certified and on the job at various points over the coming months. The agency also hopes to activate a new fiber line in early July to improve Newark's air traffic communications.
Stewart says he is not sure if he'll ever feel comfortable returning to work at the FAA. He made sure to clarify multiple times that everything he shared is his opinion, not the FAA's.
Stewart says he feels that flying in the U.S. is still, overall, the safest way to travel.
The FAA did not respond to CBS News New York's request for comment on this story.
