Port Authority Taking New Look At PATH To Newark Liberty Airport

A train (or subway) to the plane has been a catchy idea for decades in the New York City metro region. Only with the construction of the JFK AirTrain and a connector between the Northeast Corridor and the AirTrain at Newark Liberty airports is there any semblance of a mass transit option at those airports.

It isn't the easiest connection to make, and it would require someone in Manhattan to make multiple transfers to get to Newark Airport in particular.

That's why a direct PATH to Newark Liberty holds such allure.


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The Port Authority is proposing to extend PATH from Newark Penn Station to the AirTrain stop on the Northeast Corridor.

The bistate agency is launching a study to assess the possibility of extending the World Trade Center-Newark PATH rail line from Newark Penn Station to the existing Northeast Corridor Rail Link, allowing access to Newark Liberty's AirTrain for terminal access.

"Extending PATH to Newark Liberty International Airport has been discussed for a generation," said Port Authority Deputy Executive Director Bill Baroni. "We are now moving this process forward quickly to bring together our PATH system, Newark Liberty International Airport, and Lower Manhattan. It is a regional win for all."
The project would generate more than $600 million in design and construction work while adding permanent jobs for the link's operation, according to a press release.

This would be an internally conducted feasibility study and it will likely find a need and reason to go ahead with the environmental studies and approvals necessary for construction.

The result of that project would not only add capacity to the airport, but it would mean a one-seat ride from Lower Manhattan to the airport's doorstep. It would significantly cut travel times and improve the competitiveness of Lower Manhattan office space to international businesses. Giving a quick and easy connection to the airport would benefit those businesses and improve rental opportunities at the World Trade Center and other downtown rental opportunities.

This jibes with yesterday's study results that indicate that the Port Authority generates most of its revenues from passengers at its area airports. It would also support the reason behind a proposal for the Port Authority to take over the Atlantic City airport operations. Generating revenues would help support other core missions for the agency although the Atlantic City airport isn't exactly tied to the agency's core mission within the New York City metro area. It would likely be used to generate revenues for other projects within the Port Authority's jurisdiction.

Governor's Demanded Audit of Port Authority Finds Need For Toll Hikes

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey recently underwent an outside audit as required by Governors Chris Christie and Andrew Cuomo. They did so because of the fallout over a major toll and fare increase that went into effect earlier this year and follow-on hikes set for the next three Decembers as well as complaints that the agency was diverting funds for transportation projects to finish the World Trade Center project.

The audit report, prepared by the consulting firms Navigant Consulting Inc. and Rothschild Inc., finds that the Port Authority must raise tolls in order to maintain its credit rating and carry out infrastructure maintenance and upgrades over the next decade.

The report, prepared by the consulting firms Navigant Consulting Inc. and Rothschild Inc., lays out $26.9 billion in projects the Port Authority is poised to undertake through 2020 — everything from replacing the suspender ropes on the George Washington Bridge to raising the Bayonne Bridge and completing the World Trade Center. But it also identified about $44 billion in needs, including fixing aging terminals at Newark Liberty International and La Guardia airports.

To generate enough revenue to finance those projects, the report recommended that the agency attract private corporations to invest in joint projects and pursue aggressive cost-control measures, some of which Port Authority officials said they recently put in place. Port Authority officials said they would also pursue advertising revenue at its facilities to bring in more non-toll and fare money and would also continue to collect money owed by other government agencies and toll cheats.

The report mounted a strong defense of last year’s toll hikes at the agency’s bridges and tunnels, to $9.50 from $8 during peak travel times. They are scheduled to rise an additional 75 cents each December through 2015. Without those increases, the Port Authority would have had to cut $6 billion from its capital plan over the next decade, imperiling critical projects and its credit rating, the report said. Even with the toll hikes, the report said, the agency is losing money on its bridges, tunnels, trains and bus terminals. The report also encouraged the Port Authority to “educate the public” about tolls on some of the New York City-owned bridges linking Manhattan and its boroughs.

The Port Authority is responsible for infrastructure that is in many places approaching 80 years of age or more.

Bridges such as the Goethals and Outerbridge crossing need replacement due to their being functionally obsolete. The Bayonne Bridge must be raised to permit Super Panamax shipping to port facilities.

The George Washington Bridge needs upkeep, including replacing the suspenders that carry the bridge deck weight.

Airport terminals at JFK, LGA, and EWR are 52 years old and contribute to delays and bad customer experiences. The average age for PATH facilities is 72 years, and Port commerce facilities are 57 years old. The increasing age of the facilities means more must be spent to maintain a state of good repair, and that facilities need to be replaced or modernized to maintain competitive advantages over other facilities nationally and around the world.

The full report indicates $3.2 billion in capital construction for airport rehabilitation and improvement projects, focused on Newark Liberty's Terminal A, JFK's Terminal 4 and 5, and LaGuardia's entire terminal infrastructure.

Further, PATH would see another $2 billion in infrastructure projects, including extending rail platforms to accommodate 10-car trains, signal work, and tunnel modernization.

More than $4 billion would be spent on bridge-related projects, though the figure for raising the Bayonne Bridge appears to be 20% higher than the $1 billion costs previously acknowledged for that project. Also, the Goethals Bridge replacement span costs don't appear to show the full cost for that project - which are expected to be financed in a public-private partnership.

The report also indicates a negative free cash flow largely as a result of WTC construction, PATH, Ferry and Port facilities. This situation needs to be addressed all while maintaining the current level of service. At the same time, the bulk of the negative cash flow is the result of WTC construction, which means that the sooner the construction is completed, the sooner that the Port Authority will obtain revenues from WTC related facilities - the office tower rents, retail spaces, and taking construction costs off the books. The ongoing delays in construction have only made the Port Authority's financial situation worse, but it isn't sole reason. The Port's operations incur losses of $28 per container because the revenue stream from tenant rentals is insufficient to cover recurring capital costs, such as dredging and system upgrades. PATH loses about $3 per passenger, which is comparable to other mass transit systems although PATH doesn't get federal subsidies as seen in other mass transit systems.

Aviation facilities are the key generator of Port Authority revenues, with more than $20 in revenue per passenger, while bridges and tunnels generate $7.50 per vehicle.

Airport Security Theater Takes Turn to the Absurd

For all the talk of improving security and eliminating all manner of holes in security around airplanes and airports, it seems that there was one huge gaping hole at one of the airports from which one of the 9/11 aircraft took off.

A security supervisor at Newark Liberty Airport was using the identification of a dead man for more than 17 years.

Bimbo Olumuyia Oyelwole, a 54-year-old Nigerian national who was in the country illegally, was arrested at his home in Elizabeth this morning and charged with identity theft, said Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman. He was an employee of FJC Security Services, a company hired by the Port Authority to provide security at some areas of the airport.

The arrest is likely to raise questions about the thoroughness of the background checks airport security personnel are required to undergo.

Oyelwole had passed multiple background checks required by both the Port Authority and federal aviation officials, but it was unclear early Wednesday afternoon how his true identity was not detected. Oyelwole supervised 30 guards and had "air side access," meaning he was able to walk in and out of secure areas. Authorities have no indication that he took on the false identity for any other reason than to remain in the country.

Oyelwole, who entered the country illegally in 1989, had a birth certificate, social security card, and other documents indicating he was Jerry Thomas, a man murdered in Queens in 1992, Coleman said. The investigation was initiated after the Port Authority's Inspector General received an anonymous tip, Coleman said.

"The IG's office is looking into how he obtained the documents to maintain another person's identity," he said, adding that additional charges are pending. Oyelwole is expected to be arraigned in Superior Court in Essex County this afternoon.

Oyelwole worked for four different security companies during his time at Newark, including Lance Security, Gateway Security, and Haynes Security.

The failures here will surely come to light over the next few days and weeks, but suffice to say this mess will not end well for those involved at the Port Authority, TSA, and others responsible for security at the airport.

After all, if the agencies responsible for airport security couldn't vet their own personnel, how exactly can we expect them to do the job of securing the airports from other threats.

And on that point, it seems that the TSA hasn't exactly got a good record either. The TSA is not tracking patterns in security breaches and isn't keeping tabs on security breaches in a way that can reduce their prevalence over time.

An Unaffordable But Necessary Plan To Deal With NYC Metro Area Airport Congestion

The Port Authority commissioned a study to figure out how to reduce the massive airport congestion that the region currently experiences and is only expected to get worse in the coming decade.

The problem is one of cost. Massive costs.

The proposed solutions might be $15 billion or more in order to build new runways at JFK and Newark Liberty airports. Newark Liberty would require a massive reconstruction effort to demolish existing terminals and realign runways to permit the construction of a third runway along its north/south axis next to the existing two runways.

LaGuardia Airport would not get any additional runways since there is no room on its grounds.

So the study’s authors at the Manhattan-based Regional Plan Association are recommending $15 billion in overhauls at the three major airports, including construction of a third, longer runway at Newark to allow for more takeoffs and landings and, ultimately, to significantly reduce delays.

To make way for the new runway, however, all of Terminal B and portions of Terminals A and C would have to be demolished and rebuilt in some other configuration, according to the study commissioned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the three airports.

In addition to Newark, the report recommends a fifth runway be added at JFK. LaGuardia, which like Newark is plagued by poor on-time performance, has no room to expand, the report says.

Failing to overhaul the airports will stunt the region’s growth, resulting in the loss of business and job opportunities and forcing traveling public to seek other airports or other means of transportation, the study said.

"What’s at stake is 130,000 jobs, $16 billion in sales," said Jeffrey Zupan, a senior fellow at the plan association and co-author of the report. "If we don’t do the expansion, we’re leaving millions of people unserved. We’ve got to get started now,"

The report recommends redevelopment because there is no other location within 40 miles of Manhattan in which to build a new, major airport.

"The good thing about the Newark option is that you can do it totally within the Newark footprint," Zupan said.

The report does not say how long it would take to complete such a massive undertaking, and it’s not even certain whether a project with such a huge price tag would be approved by the governors of New Jersey and New York.

The airport proposal was unveiled as the Port Authority continues to experience recession-related revenue declines even as it confronts costly projects like redeveloping of the World Trade Center site, raising the Bayonne Bridge roadbed and replacing the Goethals Bridge.

The proposal notes that there are no locations within 40 miles of Manhattan that could support the construction of a new airport to relieve congestion at the existing airports. Newburgh's Stewart International Airport is 61 miles from Manhattan and that presents the most viable alternative only if high speed rail connections are established to speed access to the region's core. Alternatively, one might want to take a closer look at the Westchester County Airport in White Plains that has room to grow into neighboring Connecticut. At present, there are several golf courses adjacent to the airport that could make way for a significant expansion of the airport. I'm sure that the local community wouldn't appreciate the additional noise and congestion that the airport expansion might bring, but it might be a whole lot less costly than the rebuilding of Newark Liberty airport.

The JFK airport expansion could be done with less interruption and disruption of flight operations, particularly if the Port Authority decides to build a new runway adjacent to existing 13L/31R that could be built on landfill reclaimed from Jamaica Bay. Additional runways could be built on the other side of JFK airport adjacent to Rockaway Parkway, but that would require a realignment of that road and relocating the cargo operations of multiple carriers.

Newark Liberty would require a significant reconstruction of all of its airport operations to build a new runway parallel to its existing two main runways.

Further, the study notes that Newark's AirTrain is outmoded and should be replaced at some point in the future. The AirTrain has been a failure because it doesn't connect the terminals with the parking facilities, including long term parking and inhibits better utilization of facilities the way that the JFK AirTrain does. Instead, the proposal suggests expanding PATH to the airport, but that's just not a cost efficient alternative.

The Newark Liberty Airport Security Mess

The Port Authority of New York/New Jersey should be downright embarrassed over its handling of security at Newark Liberty airport. They are responsible for the infrastructure and deployment of methods to prevent inappropriate access of secured areas, and now comes word that during this weekend's landing of a crippled aircraft, the radio systems used by emergency personnel failed.

United Airlines Flight 634, its right landing gear malfunctioning, was approaching Newark on Sunday morning when rescue crews were alerted to race to the runway and prepare for a crash landing.

But by the time the teams were in place, their radios went dead, apparently because of utility work nearby.

"There couldn't have been a worse time for it to go down," a source said of the foul-up involving the Port Authority's Air Fire Rescue frequency.

At 8:50 a.m., the emergency system alerted rescue teams to the possibly crippled airliner approaching Newark. But soon after, a sergeant on the ground realized he couldn't communicate with his desk or other squads.

Using cellphones, cops alerted the crews to switch to backup frequencies. But by the time that happened, sources said, the Airbus had already safely skidded to its landing, with the 48 passengers and crew members on board scampering from the craft on emergency slides.

A PA spokesman confirmed that the first-responder frequency went down, but insisted crews were always able to communicate.

"The sergeant realized what was happening, and he told people they needed to switch frequencies to communicate with each other," the spokesman said.

Sources said the radio failure was only one of a spate of police communications failures.

Airport patrol officers lost their radio contact at the same time the rescue frequencies went out, the sources insisted yesterday.

The problem with radio contact also occurred at JFK airport. Emergency personnel were able to contact each other with cell phones.

Thankfully, the plane was able to land with no loss of life and everyone was able to walk away from the crash.

However, the problems point to problems with the way the Port Authority is managing airport operations.

Why was there no security gates to prevent someone from walking back through exits as a lovestruck man did last week, causing major delays and a security nightmare for the TSA? Why were security cameras inoperative?



The video systems have a spotty record, and Sen. Bob Menendez has called for more funding.

These are questions that must be asked of Port Authority managers at the airport, and they must be resolved immediately since the lives of travelers and the general public are put at risk.

In the meantime, security will be doubled at the exits - so that two TSA security guards will be at the exit areas at all times, to avoid a repeat of the circumstances last week.

Sources told The News that the TSA guard at the exit was spotted on security video chatting on his cell phone at the moment of the trespass. TSA officials refused to comment on the specifics of the failure, which delayed more than 100 flights for up to seven hours.

"TSA is reviewing all of the circumstances surrounding the breach and how it happened," Davis said. "And if there are lessons that can be learned here, we will take further actions."

Sunday's security blunder - coming nine days after a 23-year-old Nigerian with Al Qaeda ties made a botched, Christmas Day attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound flight - did nothing to ease fears about the nation's air safety. Jitters continued yesterday as portions of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport were evacuated after a bomb-sniffing dog detected a suspicious bag, although closer inspection revealed nothing dangerous.

In Bakersfield, Calif., the airport was shut down for hours after routine swabbing of some bags tested positive for TNT. Inside, five Gatorade bottles filled with amber liquid were found - but the mystery liquid turned out to be honey, local officials said.

Newark's screwup began after an unidentified man was spotted by a sharp-eyed bystander on Sunday walking unchallenged into an exitway in Terminal C, where only screened passengers are supposed to be.

The man caught on the video is
Haisong Jiang, 28, of Piscataway, who confessed to walking into the secured area of the airport via the exit when Port Authority detectives showed up at his Piscataway home. He faces a charge of defiant trespass.

Meanwhile, if you think that bomb-sniffing dogs are infallible, think again. Three dogs at Philadelphia's airport failed recertification tests, and the local Congressional representative is demanding replacements be sent immediately to supplement the existing group of bomb sniffing dogs that are used to screen cargo at the airport.

Video Released Showing Newark Liberty Security Breach

The guard leaves his post about 5 minutes into the 6 minute video and about 30 seconds later a man and his significant other walk through in the opposite direction.

The video was released at the insistence of New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg. It was on a video system used by Continental Airlines, not the TSA system. The TSA system was inoperative.

UPDATE:
The key moments:
1:01: TSA officer asks unidentified man to move away from secure area
4:54: TSA officer leaves his post
5:31: unidentified man enters secure area with the woman who had just emerged from secured area.

A commenter wonders if any corrective actions were taken against the guard who left his post. He was placed on administrative leave according to the NY Times.

The Wrong Lesson Learned

The security breach at Newark Liberty Airport two days ago was not the result of a lack of full-body scanners, but rather the incompetence of staff to secure an exit to prevent an individual from entering the secured terminal.

Yet, we now have calls to install full body scanners at the airport because the breach shows what exactly?

A security breach at Newark Liberty International Airport that exposed screening gaps — at a time of heightened alert — has led to calls for quick installation of electronic body scanners at one of the busiest jet ports in the nation.

Transportation and federal officials said the Transportation Security Administration must go beyond investigating the breach and quickly install additional body scanners or station bomb-sniffing patrol dogs near security gates.
Terminal C at Newark Liberty International Airport Monday morning following a security breach the night before stopping air travel.

U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg criticized the TSA for failing to prevent someone from walking into a secure area of Newark airport Sunday night — just one week after an attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound plane.

Meanwhile, the TSA said passenger screenings were halted about 7 p.m. and Terminal C was shut down more than two hours after an unidentified man entered the terminal through an exit door at 5:30 p.m. He was later seen on tape leaving the terminal about 20 minutes later.

A bystander waiting for relatives to arrive told a security officer assigned to the area about the man, but officials needed to analyze the surveillance tapes to confirm a security breach had occurred before making any decisions about stopping the screenings because the bystander was uncertain of what he saw, said TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis.

The breach also grounded planes for six hours, creating a backlog that delayed some international flights for as long as five hours Monday, said Julie King, a spokeswoman for Continental Airlines.

The scanners might have been useful in detecting a terrorist carrying explosives on his person, like Abdul Mutallab, who tried to blow up the plane he was on with explosives sewn into his underwear and that would have been detonated with a liquid concealed in a syringe, but they would have been of no use for preventing the security breach at the airport.

In fact, this wasn't a screening gap, but a security cordon gap, where the perimeter of the controlled airport spaces were accessed by someone who didn't follow procedure. The TSA worker manning that control point has been reassigned, but we also have a blame game over why it took so long for security to be alerted and for various law enforcement agencies to be involved. It took two hours for federal authorities to lock down Terminal C after the security breach.

McCaffery told them the TSA officer at the gate had been momentarily distracted by a departing passenger’s question, as a rush of people came out the door from a flight that had just landed. While that was happening, an individual walked behind him, against the flow of people, apparently to talk to his girlfriend who had just cleared security and was already on the other side. TSA officials said the incident began some time around 5:20 p.m. but the lockdown was not ordered until 7:45 pm,

Lautenberg said the security breach and the TSA’s response were completely unacceptable.

"This security breakdown was inexcusable, especially when our aviation system was supposedly on high alert," said Lautenberg, calling for a full investigation to determine what went wrong and make sure it never happens again.

Menendez said he plans to specifically discuss with the Port Authority and TSA an expansion of the terminal’s video surveillance system, which is not operated by the TSA.

The video system was controlled by Continental Airlines, and it took time to locate the particular video showing the breach.

Meanwhile, security hasn't exactly been improved at all overseas airports that feed flights to the US, including those in countries that were put on a list for stricter scrutiny.

All the technology in the world can't secure the air traffic infrastructure and passengers if individuals can simply pass through the security perimeter unimpeded, or if the additional scrutiny on certain passengers is not initiated and carried out across the board. The gaps in security will persist.

UPDATE:
This doesn't inspire much confidence either. Gothamist reports that metal detectors at JFK airport didn't sound when a woman with a titanium hip implant passed through on several occasions. She alerted TSA and they didn't respond by changing security procedures either.

UPDATE:
I can't wait to hear the TSA excuse for this. Michael Yon facebooked that he got handcuffed at SeaTac (call it arrested or merely detained), but not for any national security issues, but rather refusing to answer questions unrelated to transportation security.

Got arrested at the Seattle airport for refusing to say how much money I make. (The uniformed ones say I was not "arrested", but they definitely handcuffed me.) Their videos and audios should show that I was polite, but simply refused questions that had nothing to do with national security. Port authority police eventually came -- they were professionals -- and rescued me from the border bullies.

UPDATE:
Back to the tragedy of errors at Newark Liberty: The TSA video system was inoperable at the time of the incident, and the TSA didn't have the phone number to contact Continental Airlines to get their video feed.

That's because CBS 2 has learned that when an unidentified man breached a secure area at Newark on Sunday night, delaying thousands of passengers for hours, the TSA cameras weren't working.

That's right – they weren't even recording, sources said, and needed a reboot, which the agency apparently didn't ask for. That set off a chain reaction of even more missteps that caused needless chaos and inconvenience for several thousand hapless passengers.

With the cameras inoperable, the TSA tried to get a second set of surveillance video from Continental Airlines. But the TSA apparently didn't know the correct telephone number and the specific procedures to get the footage. That caused a two hour delay in identifying the intruder and closing the airport to look for him.

When they finally got the footage, they couldn't find the intruder, discovering later that he had slipped out another entrance 20 minutes after he arrived.

Air Security Theater Takes Another Hit

Terminal C at Newark Liberty Airport has been put into lockdown following an individual managing to enter the terminal through the exit without being screened.

Terminal C at Newark Liberty Airport terminal was locked down and flights were delayed after a man walked the wrong way through a checkpoint exit.

The Transportation Safety Administration said police are still searching for the man, according to CNN.

The man entered the "sterile" section of the airport and apparently bypassed security screeners by going the wrong way through a checkpoint exit.

All the money to buy and install new body scanners means nothing if facilities aren't secured to prevent access in the fashion noted in today's breach.

Strip searching Muslims wont get the job done. Instead, the TSA will be giving additional scrutiny to those coming from specific countries.

"TSA is mandating that every individual flying into the U.S. from anywhere in the world traveling from or through nations that are state sponsors of terrorism or other countries of interest will be required to go through enhanced screening," a statement read. "The directive also increases the use of enhanced screening technologies and mandates threat-based and random screening for passengers on U.S. bound international flights."

A senior official identifies the relevant" countries of interest": Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, or Yemen, or one of the following countries designated as a state sponsor of terrorism: Cuba, Iran, Sudan, and Syria.

There are issues with even that approach given that terrorists may simply recruit members from countries that aren't on the list, or that the terrorists may forge passports and visas to gain entry to the US.

Still, this is a first step, though one shouldn't rely too much on the increased scrutiny by security screeners. If they aren't given access to the most current threat data, they may not know to look for certain individuals or behaviors to watch for. Terrorists may further attempt different methods to attack the US.

What it takes is a layered defense against terrorism. Body scanners may be one part of a security protocol, but it isn't the cure-all. Yet, while there is significant merit to the body scanners, some people still think that the privacy concerns outweigh the usefulness.

Forty units are in use at 19 airports, including Reagan National and Baltimore-Washington International Marshall airports. The Transportation Security Administration said it has ordered 150 more scanners to be installed early this year and has secured funding for an additional 300.

Passengers selected for a full-body scan can decline, but if they do, they must submit to full-body pat-downs by a TSA officer. The technology was introduced a couple of years ago, but U.S. airports have been slow to install the machines, partly because of privacy concerns raised by some members of Congress and civil liberties groups.

Seeing passengers beset by years of an ever-evolving airport drill -- at first handing over belts, cellphones and laptops for screening, then shoes, and later, dealing with restrictions on gels and liquids -- some activists and experts are asking how much compliance is too much in the name of homeland security.

"The price of liberty is too high," said Kate Hanni, who as founder of FlyersRights.org, an advocacy organization for air passengers, shuttles regularly between her California home and Washington to lobby Congress. Hanni said many of her group's 25,000 members are concerned that "the full-body scanners may not catch the criminals and will subject the rest of us to intrusive and virtual strip searches."

There are ways to assuage the privacy concerns, such as projecting the images on to neutral figures, avoiding direct contact between the screener viewing the body scan and the individual themselves, deleting all such records of scans, etc.

Still, a body scan may not detect all kinds of explosives, but that isn't the only kind of threat. Baggage screening is still an issue, and there are other threats that we have yet to fully recognize. In the US in particular, Amtrak and other commuter rail systems are also threatened by terrorism and have a fraction of the security systems in place.

Ultimately, it will take a vigilant public to make sure that different modes of transit are safer.

UPDATE 1/4/2010:
There are continued delays a day after the security breach as security tries to catch up in rescreening passengers along with incoming arrivals to the airport. What a mess.

Newark Airspace Problems Could Have Deadly Consequences

The FAA changed the routing in and out of Newark-Liberty airport to relieve congestion and improve the chronic delays at the airport.

What's happened instead is a disaster in the wings. Planes and controllers are constantly finding themselves making the wrong turns. All it takes is one mistake and we've got a disaster on our hands.

Controllers are accusing the Federal Aviation Administration of "covering up" by not reporting what some say could be hundreds of "pilot deviations" in which aircraft follow the wrong departure instructions — and send controllers scurrying to quickly correct the mistakes.

When controllers have sought to report many of these incidents, they've been told by supervisors: "Don't bother," said Edward Kragh, the controllers' union representative at Newark.

"It's a nightmare," said Phil Barbarello, eastern regional vice president for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. "It hasn't reduced delays. It just adds to the confusion."

The FAA declined to respond to the union's allegations and has confirmed only four pilot deviations — two on Oct. 1 and two on Oct. 16 — have taken place since September.

"Air traffic controllers who are handling planes departing from Newark Liberty International Airport are using procedures that are operationally feasible and safe," according to an FAA statement released by spokesman Jim Peters on Thursday.

Controllers, however, provided The Record with logged accounts of three incidents involving pilot mistakes that happened Thanksgiving morning, just as travelers were departing in the midst of one of the busiest holiday weekends of the year.

* At 8:12 a.m., a Colgan turbo-prop plane that could hold 90 passengers made a left turn when it should have made a right out of the airport, according to the controllers' logs.

* Four minutes later, another Colgan plane — the company has a partnership with Continental — made the opposite mistake, turning right when it should have turned left, according to the same logs.

* Nearly 90 minutes later, at 9:42 a.m., a Continental flight bound for Seattle veered left when it should have turned right, according to the logs.

"Eventually we're going to whack two planes together and then they're going to say something about it," said Kragh.

Those incidents followed three wrong turns in May involving Continental Airlines pilots who flew off-course. But controllers say there have been many more where quick decision-making quite possibly averted a disaster.

"I saw a guy who just headed out straight when he wasn't supposed to. We had to turn the other guys [who were already in the air] out of the way," said Dan D'Agostino, a Newark controller. "We're trained to do something right away."

In its statement, the FAA acknowledged that some aircraft departing the airport "have not followed the assigned heading upon takeoff" as the agency has established its new flight patterns.

If the union is correct on this, the FAA has screwed up bigtime in making sure that pilots know the proper procedures and that they're rigorously followed.

It also means that the FAA's handling of the airport departure and arrival practices is needlessly putting lives in jeopardy and increasing pressure on controllers to watch for deviations in flight plans.

New York Area Airports Lack Critical Safety Radar

The region's three major airports lack technology designed to prevent airplanes from colliding with each other, and it could be years before all of them have it, a lawmaker said yesterday.

La Guardia, John F. Kennedy International and Newark Liberty International airports don't have the surface detection equipment technology that alerts air traffic controllers to potential collisions within five miles of an airport, including on runways, Senator Schumer said.

The airports remain at the bottom of the list to receive the new technology, and La Guardia will be among the last airports to receive it in December 2010, Mr. Schumer said.

Kennedy was slated to receive the new system in August of 2008 and Newark in July 2009, he said. Mr. Schumer's comments come three days after a plane taxied onto a runway where a plane was about to land at Newark Liberty. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating that incident, called an incursion.

Also last week, a congressional report said there was "a high risk of a catastrophic runway collision occurring" in the country because of poor leadership, unreliable technology and overworked air traffic controllers.

Mr. Schumer called on FAA officials to expedite the installation of the collision technology, which he said was particularly helpful in bad weather and at night, at New York area airports.

"As one of the busiest areas in the country, we should be at the top of the list when new technology is developed to make us safer," Mr. Schumer said. "On the heels of this week's scathing report, Thursday's near miss at Newark shows the FAA must not continue to drag its feet."

An FAA spokesman said the schedule to install the technology was based on several factors including how busy an airport is and the complexity of an airport's runway and taxiway infrastructure and procedures. Some airports received the technology ahead of New York's airports while others will get it later, an FAA spokesman, Jim Peters, said.

New York's three airports already have ground surveillance radar, although it doesn't offer as much detail about an aircraft's whereabouts as the new technology, Mr. Peters said.

Lawhawk has been writing about the problems at New York's three major airports. Before August 2008, when Kennedy Airport is slated to receive the new system, how many flights will pass through there? How many people will be put in danger? Why can't the system be installed in all three airports simultaneously?

And to turn this into a political debate -- Where is Hillary on this issue? New York's junior Senator seems to be quiet on every issue that truly effects New Yorkers. Now, I am not the biggest fan of Senator Schumer, but he is always outspoken about issues that matter to New Yorkers. He has been out front on gun control, ATM bank fees, port security, and aviation issues. Since Hillary's election I have not heard her speak out on any of these issues. The Country really needs to realize that she is ineffective, and would make a horrible President.