NEW YORK (AP) -- The incidence of planes getting too close to each other at low altitudes in the New York City area has spiked sharply, prompting federal authorities to require regional air traffic controllers to undergo safety training sessions, according to published reports.
The three-day safety reviews sessions will be held for the 220 controllers who monitor the air traffic at New York's La Guardia and John F. Kennedy airport, Newark Airport and other smaller local airports, Federal Aviation Administration officials told The New York Times and Newsday for their Thursday editions.
The training comes officials report that the incidence of planes getting too close to each other at low altitudes has surged more than six times over the long-standing average.
Bruce Johnson, the vice president of the FAA division that handles towers and terminal radar approach controls, told the Times that area controllers had also been observed losing track of planes mid-flight and making other errors.
Phil Barbarello, a vice president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association and a New York controller who was himself recently cited for an error, blamed the rise in mistakes on staffing shortages and cuts in overtime. Johnson denied the charge.
The FAA and area controllers have been fighting each other over working conditions at the Long Island facility that monitors local airports, with the agency accusing the controllers of abusing sick time and working more hours of overtime than the government can afford.
There were 13 reports of planes coming within three miles (4.8 kilometers) of each other during a 30-day period ending in mid-August - up from an average of two per month, said agency spokesman Greg Martin. None of the 20 errors reported in the last six-and-a-half weeks could be considered a close call, he said.
The FAA said the errors had been discovered in part by agency inspectors who had been sent to the Long Island facility to investigate the alleged overtime and sick-time problems, as well as random audits of air-traffic tapes.
Copyright 2005 Associated Press
