{"id":15088,"date":"2021-09-21T07:27:51","date_gmt":"2021-09-21T11:27:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/?p=15088"},"modified":"2021-09-21T07:30:08","modified_gmt":"2021-09-21T11:30:08","slug":"whats-the-news-at-newark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/whats-the-news-at-newark\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s the news at Newark?"},"content":{"rendered":"

KEWR\/Newark Liberty International<\/strong> is the other, <\/i>other international airport serving the New York metropolitan area – the busiest airport system in the US – along with KJFK\/New York JFK<\/strong> and KLGA\/La Guardia<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Whilst JFK airport is the largest, Newark is actually the busiest in terms of number of flights. It is also the 6th busiest airport in the US in terms of international traffic, and 15th busiest in general in the country.<\/p>\n

So, what is happening now?<\/h4>\n

Runway works<\/strong>. And a general redevelopment program which includes a plan to replace Terminal A, due to be fully finished by 2022. You can read about that here.<\/a><\/p>\n

But it is the runway rehabilitation<\/a> we are most interested in, because it involves runway 04R\/22L<\/strong>. The runway was last upgraded in 2012 so this is long overdue, particularly given that it serves 47 percent of the airport\u2019s traffic load.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Of course, there is a Notam to warn everyone about the closure.<\/p>\n

Does anyone remember AC Flight 759?<\/h4>\n

Air Canada Flight 759<\/a> is the one that, in 2017, very nearly<\/i> had a very nasty accident at KSFO\/San Francisco. By very nearly<\/em>, we mean avoided it by less than about 14 feet<\/strong>. That was the reported distance between the bottom of the Air Canada aircraft and the tail of a Phillippine Airlines A340 sitting on Taxiway C.<\/p>\n

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One of the probable causes the NTSB cited was the pilots mistaking taxiway C for runway 28R because they had overlooked the closure of runway 28L in the Notam report.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So, let\u2019s take a look at the Notams you will see for KEWR\/Newark should you operate in there today.<\/p>\n

We downloaded a report straight from the FAA Notam site, and it is here if you would like a look.<\/a><\/p>\n

This may well differ to what you would receive in your flight plan pack, we have not included any filters and the layout is a little less user friendly. It is possible your flight planning department \/ system \/ whatever you use does present this in a clearer way, but it is also possible it does not.<\/p>\n

We had this highlighted to us by a member whose exact words were\u00a0“Talk about getting lost in the weeds – that\u2019s just crazy.”<\/em><\/p>\n

So, what is the concern?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, there are 5 pages,<\/strong> with\u00a0108 Notams<\/strong> in total and hidden away on page 4 is\u00a0Notam 07\/045<\/strong><\/p>\n

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In case you couldn’t spot it<\/p><\/div>\n

Which is why we mentioned the KSFO incident.<\/h4>\n

Newark\u2019s runway layout looks like this –\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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04R\/22L is closed<\/p><\/div>\n

San Fran’s runway layout is this –<\/p>\n

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28L\/10R was closed<\/p><\/div>\n

And while KSFO\u2019s layout, with taxiway C to the outer side of runway 28R led to a more likely visual mistake, the mixing of this Notam within a swamp of over 100 others<\/strong> does mean it might be missed, particularly by an operator who is not familiar with the airport.<\/p>\n

Notam 07\/045<\/h4>\n

The Notam advises that runway 04R\/22L will be closed from 06 July 2021 until 01 October 2021.<\/p>\n

There is, if your filter includes it, also a construction plan.<\/p>\n

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The construction notice<\/p><\/div>\n

What about the other 107 notams?<\/h4>\n

Nothing can substitute flight planners and pilots reading the Notam packs thoroughly.<\/strong> However, faced with 108 Notams for an airport (especially if you\u2019re not familiar with it), it might be daunting.<\/p>\n

So here is a summary of what to look out for, (as of September 15 2021).<\/p>\n

In the air:<\/h4>\n