Another NY Senator buys into NY Near Collisions

The seven recent near mid-air collisions in the vicinity of New York Area Airports reported on on 12 June at this link  have become political fodder. Senator Hilary Clinton has written a letter to the Inspector General's Office Monday demanding a "broader investigation." In an e-mail to the New York Post, which first broke the story, Clinton said: "It is critical that we get to the bottom of why these near-misses took place and what the FAA is doing to prevent them in the future. With the upcoming travel season, the airspace will only get busier, so this must be a top priority. If any of these near-misses resulted in a collision, it would also be absolutely devastating to the surrounding areas." The Inspector General's Office has confirmed that an audit is under way of how the near-misses happened, but declined to discuss specifics. The FAA is not commenting. It is currently investigating the most recent near-misses in May but treats each incident as an isolated event. The local air-traffic controllers union says Kennedy, Newark and La Guardia airports are short-staffed. It claims, for example, that there should be 36 controllers at Kennedy, but currently there are 29. The FAA has previously said the union's numbers are wrong, saying Kennedy has 30 controllers with four more in training. It claims all airports are adequately staffed. To some people, that argument is akin to bemoaning the high price of petrol while watching a motor rally. The answer to congested NY area airport traffic may be to limit slots and force higher load factors.