Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You know, he talked about it yesterday with us, the
real id thing that's happening, and I'm speaking about Alex Stone.
ABC News is joining us now. So this is well
aviation related, but this one is well worse. I think
is probably the way to say it, right, Mark, Alex.
I just called you, Mark.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I thought you're gonna go with Martin. I was like,
when did I become that?
Speaker 1 (00:25):
We just talked to Marshall. So that's why I like that.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I can take that. He's a good guy, Like, yeah,
I could beat him. Yeah. So this is this is
a problem that it's been a real bear at Newark
Liberty Airport this week, which is a United's big New
York cub that if you're flying United, you're probably going
into Newark. They have a couple of flights into LaGuardia,
but most everything is at Newark. And on Monday and
Wednesday of this week, air traffic control computers glitched out momentarily,
(00:51):
and there have been air traffic control staffing problems, runway construction,
and it all came together in a royal mess. And
the average delay in Newark yesterday was about five five hours.
Hundreds of flights were canceled. If they weren't delayed, they
then didn't go at all. This woman was trying to
get out and she says, just been a mess. I
fly all the time. I don't remember things being this bad.
(01:11):
So Newark is unique. Yes, there are air traffic control
staffing and equipment issues everywhere in the US, but in Newark,
the controllers are really mad because their jobs are being
moved to Philadelphia. They've had to go down to Philadelphia
and train their replacements essentially, and so they're saying, well,
they had these glitches this week, and if they can
claim that that was a traumatic event, well then under
(01:34):
their contract they get forty five days off to recover
from that traumatic event. So they're now saying they're not
coming to work and this is going to be a mess.
We just got a letter from the CEO of United
to workers saying over twenty percent of the FAA controllers
in Newark walked off the job this week. And this
is a long simmering FAA challenge that boiled over. United
(01:56):
is cutting thirty five trips from Newark now because they
just United is like, we're not doing this, like they're
not creating this. But they've got to deal with it
because the controllers move their airplanes around and tell them
win to land and take off, and now United stuck
dealing with it. So there's bottom line everywhere. FAA staffing
is tight, equipment is crazy, old and crumbling. Sean Duffy,
(02:17):
the Transportation Secretary, says, all of this has got to
be dealt with.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
You're starting to see cracks in the system. It's our job,
all of us working together, to not wait until there's
a disaster.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
So to hire more controllers. They're bringing on new incentives
like a five thousand dollars bonus for trainees and graduates
of the FAA Academy. For veteran controllers who could retire,
they're giving them bonuses if they'll stick around and they'll
get extra money. Nick Daniels is the president of their union.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Staffing is one part of the bigger picture. Our air
traffic control system also urgently needs technology upgrades and infrastructure improvements.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Mark of the one hundred and thirty eight air traffic
control systems that are in use, fifty one have been
deemed unsustainable because they have components over fifty years old
that they can't even get any longer. So next week
Duffy is expected to down, so there's gonna be this
new push for money to go to air traffic control.
But that's the thing. They got to get the money
from Congress to be able to do it. He keeps
saying they're going to upgrade it, but they can't do
it without the money. We've heard similar before. We don't
(03:14):
know where the money is going to come from.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
At the end of the day, we need to make
sure the controllers have the proper equipment and that they're
obviously appropriately staffed.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
So maybe next week they're going to say that they've
got Congress on board. But for now, similar radar and
other equipment is just ancient. It does work for the
most part, not so much in Newerk apparently, but elsewhere
it's just really really old and slow, and you know
the old like dot matrix printers and the old green
screens and stuff. But for Newark it is just different
layers of problems of you know, now the controllers have
(03:45):
essentially walked out and said they're not going to do
it any longer, and United is really the one hurting now.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
It's really it's incredible that we haven't heard of catastrophe.
The stuff catastrophic happening there.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Mainly because they slow everything down, you know, and that's
why United just left dealing with it that all of
a sudden they can't move airplanes around and they can't
get flights off the ground because without the people controlling
at the scopes, you know, to be watching all the flights,
there's not a lot that the airline can do.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Yeah. Really uh really scary, and I feel like that's
such an important part of well, well it don't get
me wrong. I mean the aircraft, you know, in the
air they need to be you know, not old and
rickety or whatever. But this kind of thing is you know,
paramount as well with regard to not.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Having slamming into each other.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Yeah yeah, yeah, really crazy. Wow, Alex Stone, ABC News, Alex,
have a great weekend. Thanks, you see.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
You man, don't want them to riggedy.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
We don't want them rickety? Is that a word? Rickety?
Speaker 3 (04:50):
It is now?
Speaker 1 (04:50):
It is air trafficking. Every time I hear I think
of Pushing ten, that movie with John Cousy, Billy Bob Thorpe,
it's it's like, which I think is really boy, that
guy's a real idiot when it comes to you know,
political his political stance John Cusack. But but that is
a have you seen that movie?
Speaker 3 (05:11):
I had parts of it. It was like one of
those things. I remember we had it on and I
don't think I was real interested. I was like doing
other stuff, maybe working on the laptop. So I do
remember it being on in the house at some point though.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
It's pretty cool. At one point during it, he has
too many close calls and they end up putting him
and it's like a thing there they put him on.
You know, he's on leave for a little bit, and
so when he comes back, you got all these all
the other air traffic control and they're all betting on
(05:44):
whether he'll be able to go through the first shift back.
But he had some really close calls where you know,
the planes looked like they were going to crash and
somebody had to jump in and take over because they
say at different points if you do that for a living,
that it begins to really mess with you. And so
they were all taking bets on and he's like, he
(06:05):
comes in and he's like, who has me? Who has
me making it tonight? And I don't know, it's just
really well written. It's a great movie. And then he
ends up being okay there or whatever, but it's pretty good.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
It's really good.
You know, he talked about it yesterday with us, the
real id thing that's happening, and I'm speaking about Alex Stone.
ABC News is joining us now. So this is well
aviation related, but this one is well worse. I think
is probably the way to say it, right, Mark, Alex.
I just called you, Mark.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I thought you're gonna go with Martin. I was like,
when did I become that?
Speaker 1 (00:25):
We just talked to Marshall. So that's why I like that.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I can take that. He's a good guy, Like, yeah,
I could beat him. Yeah. So this is this is
a problem that it's been a real bear at Newark
Liberty Airport this week, which is a United's big New
York cub that if you're flying United, you're probably going
into Newark. They have a couple of flights into LaGuardia,
but most everything is at Newark. And on Monday and
Wednesday of this week, air traffic control computers glitched out momentarily,
(00:51):
and there have been air traffic control staffing problems, runway construction,
and it all came together in a royal mess. And
the average delay in Newark yesterday was about five five hours.
Hundreds of flights were canceled. If they weren't delayed, they
then didn't go at all. This woman was trying to
get out and she says, just been a mess. I
fly all the time. I don't remember things being this bad.
(01:11):
So Newark is unique. Yes, there are air traffic control
staffing and equipment issues everywhere in the US, but in Newark,
the controllers are really mad because their jobs are being
moved to Philadelphia. They've had to go down to Philadelphia
and train their replacements essentially, and so they're saying, well,
they had these glitches this week, and if they can
claim that that was a traumatic event, well then under
(01:34):
their contract they get forty five days off to recover
from that traumatic event. So they're now saying they're not
coming to work and this is going to be a mess.
We just got a letter from the CEO of United
to workers saying over twenty percent of the FAA controllers
in Newark walked off the job this week. And this
is a long simmering FAA challenge that boiled over. United
(01:56):
is cutting thirty five trips from Newark now because they
just United is like, we're not doing this, like they're
not creating this. But they've got to deal with it
because the controllers move their airplanes around and tell them
win to land and take off, and now United stuck
dealing with it. So there's bottom line everywhere. FAA staffing
is tight, equipment is crazy, old and crumbling. Sean Duffy,
(02:17):
the Transportation Secretary, says, all of this has got to
be dealt with.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
You're starting to see cracks in the system. It's our job,
all of us working together, to not wait until there's
a disaster.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
So to hire more controllers. They're bringing on new incentives
like a five thousand dollars bonus for trainees and graduates
of the FAA Academy. For veteran controllers who could retire,
they're giving them bonuses if they'll stick around and they'll
get extra money. Nick Daniels is the president of their union.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Staffing is one part of the bigger picture. Our air
traffic control system also urgently needs technology upgrades and infrastructure improvements.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Mark of the one hundred and thirty eight air traffic
control systems that are in use, fifty one have been
deemed unsustainable because they have components over fifty years old
that they can't even get any longer. So next week
Duffy is expected to down, so there's gonna be this
new push for money to go to air traffic control.
But that's the thing. They got to get the money
from Congress to be able to do it. He keeps
saying they're going to upgrade it, but they can't do
it without the money. We've heard similar before. We don't
(03:14):
know where the money is going to come from.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
At the end of the day, we need to make
sure the controllers have the proper equipment and that they're
obviously appropriately staffed.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
So maybe next week they're going to say that they've
got Congress on board. But for now, similar radar and
other equipment is just ancient. It does work for the
most part, not so much in Newerk apparently, but elsewhere
it's just really really old and slow, and you know
the old like dot matrix printers and the old green
screens and stuff. But for Newark it is just different
layers of problems of you know, now the controllers have
(03:45):
essentially walked out and said they're not going to do
it any longer, and United is really the one hurting now.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
It's really it's incredible that we haven't heard of catastrophe.
The stuff catastrophic happening there.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Mainly because they slow everything down, you know, and that's
why United just left dealing with it that all of
a sudden they can't move airplanes around and they can't
get flights off the ground because without the people controlling
at the scopes, you know, to be watching all the flights,
there's not a lot that the airline can do.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Yeah. Really uh really scary, and I feel like that's
such an important part of well, well it don't get
me wrong. I mean the aircraft, you know, in the
air they need to be you know, not old and
rickety or whatever. But this kind of thing is you know,
paramount as well with regard to not.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Having slamming into each other.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Yeah yeah, yeah, really crazy. Wow, Alex Stone, ABC News, Alex,
have a great weekend. Thanks, you see.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
You man, don't want them to riggedy.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
We don't want them rickety? Is that a word? Rickety?
Speaker 3 (04:50):
It is now?
Speaker 1 (04:50):
It is air trafficking. Every time I hear I think
of Pushing ten, that movie with John Cousy, Billy Bob Thorpe,
it's it's like, which I think is really boy, that
guy's a real idiot when it comes to you know,
political his political stance John Cusack. But but that is
a have you seen that movie?
Speaker 3 (05:11):
I had parts of it. It was like one of
those things. I remember we had it on and I
don't think I was real interested. I was like doing
other stuff, maybe working on the laptop. So I do
remember it being on in the house at some point though.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
It's pretty cool. At one point during it, he has
too many close calls and they end up putting him
and it's like a thing there they put him on.
You know, he's on leave for a little bit, and
so when he comes back, you got all these all
the other air traffic control and they're all betting on
(05:44):
whether he'll be able to go through the first shift back.
But he had some really close calls where you know,
the planes looked like they were going to crash and
somebody had to jump in and take over because they
say at different points if you do that for a living,
that it begins to really mess with you. And so
they were all taking bets on and he's like, he
(06:05):
comes in and he's like, who has me? Who has
me making it tonight? And I don't know, it's just
really well written. It's a great movie. And then he
ends up being okay there or whatever, but it's pretty good.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
It's really good.
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