The headline was too funny to ignore, but the underlying story of friction between the FAA and controllers union over confusion concerning new departure procedures at EWR probably isn't very funny at all.
http://wcbstv.com/seenon/newark.libe....2.730774.html
Planes at Newark Liberty International Airport depart southwest have historically turned to the left on take-off, but now a new regulation that went into effect in December allows controllers to tell pilots to take a right turn...
..."We're running into confusion at the runway," said Ray Adams, vice president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. "The pilots are being told one thing 30 minutes before departure and then they get on the runway and we're required to tell them another thing."
Said one passenger: "That is very scary."
The union representing air traffic controllers blames the mishaps on new flight patterns to ease congestion and inexperienced controllers.
"The trainees the FAA has been sending us … they don't send controllers. They send us trainees," Adams said.