Inside the multi-day meltdown at Newark airport

Silence. That’s the last thing an airline pilot wants to hear from air traffic control as they approach a major international airport straddling the country’s most populated city.

Air traffic controllers in Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control had been guiding planes to Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey last week when communication went down. “Approach, are you there?” one pilot asked the controller, who had stopped responding. United Airlines flight 1951, flying from New Orleans to Newark, a major hub for the company, tried to radio the controller five times before they got a response. “United 1951, how do you hear me?” the controller finally asks, according to air traffic control conversations recorded by the website LiveATC.net. “I got you loud and clear, United 1951,” the pilot responds. But those 30 seconds of silence when communication went down ultimately cascaded into a weeklong meltdown at Newark, one of the nation’s largest airports. It resulted in delays and cancellations for thousands of customers, controllers taking leave for trauma, and renewed scrutiny on an outdated air traffic control system. The chaos also highlighted the challenges of an understaffed air traffic control system, the latest incident in an already turbulent year for aviation that included a deadly collision between a passenger jet and US army helicopter.