ROMULUS, Mich. (WXYZ) — A risky landing system first exposed by the 7 Investigators is being used yet again at Detroit Metro Airport, and sources told 7 News Detroit that air traffic controllers were instructed to use it during Monday’s severe weather at DTW.
Meanwhile, a congresswoman is now asking the Federal Aviation Administration to stop using the controversial landing approach.
Watch Heather Catallo's video report:
The 7 Investigators revealed in December that the U.S. Special Counsel sent a report to the president and to Congress about the issues with the Yankee Offset Localizer (ILS-Y) approach at Detroit Metro Airport. In a press release at the time, Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger said, “the approach at issue may create a danger for landing aircraft and the flying public.”
Despite that, documents obtained by the 7 Investigators show that Detroit Metro Airport’s Federal Aviation Administration management is using the ILS-Y once again while one of the airport’s runways is under construction for the next month. The document states, “Y approach will be in use for this project in all weather conditions, unless the forecast to drop below approach below minimums.”
Watch below: US Special Counsel: Metro Airport landing approach may create 'danger for landing aircraft and flying public'
At DTW, the planes on the western-most runway must approach at an angle, using the ILS-Y Offset Localizer. It’s an antenna system, but air traffic controllers say its placement at metro results in the signal getting interrupted, especially when other planes taxi right in front of it.
Air traffic control sources told the 7 Investigators that the ILS-Y was used starting Monday, including during severe weather that overwhelmed the airport and Romulus. The 7 Investigators also observed planes landing with it Tuesday.
It had not previously been used in many months after scrutiny from the U.S. Special Counsel.
Watch below: 2022 report on DTW still using ILS-Y system
The new memo also instructs controllers to work more than one position for the approach, something veteran controllers say is risky and allegedly was an issue during the horrific mid-air collision near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport that killed 67 people in January.
The 7 Investigators reached out to Congresswoman Debbie Dingell after learning that metro airport was scheduled to use the Yankee Offset Localizer for a month starting July 28, 2025.
Dingell had sent a letter to the FAA in December, asking for more information about the practice. She says that letter went unanswered.
Watch below: Whistleblower speaks out again about unsafe DTW landing system
On Tuesday, she sent another letter to Federal Aviation Administrator Bryan Bedford requesting answers about “serious safety concerns surrounding the use of the Instrument Landing System Yankee approach” at DTW. Dingell called on the FAA to “suspend use of the ILS-Y approach at DTW until these issues are fully addressed, and to provide a comprehensive update on the steps FAA will take to ensure that this system operates with the highest safety standards.”
“I'm going to call the chair of the Transportation Committee. I'm going to do everything I can to raise attention. I did talk to the DOT secretary a couple of months ago, and he knows that one of the first unfortunate accidents that happened after he got sworn in was Reagan, and he knows what we've got to get. We have to get the money to update the equipment in FAA towers. And I'm going to call upon my Republican and Democratic colleagues that we can't play political games with this. We have to make flying safe in this country,” Dingell told 7 Investigator Heather Catallo.
The 7 Investigators reached out to the FAA about the new use of the ILS-Y, and they sent us this statement:
“The FAA is reviewing data and safety assessments of the ILS-Y approach at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW). We continue to engage directly with stakeholders and remain committed to the safety of the flying public at DTW and across the National Airspace System, and implement mitigations as needed. Should further safety enhancements be identified, we will take prompt action.”
“They're putting the flying public in harm's way and they're putting the tower controllers and those pilots in compromising positions they should not be in. It's as simple as that,” retired air traffic controller Vincent Sugent said.
Sugent has been blowing the whistle on problems with the Yankee Offset Localizer since 2015.
Twice, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel has investigated Sugent’s allegations, and twice they’ve agreed with him.
“Why they're using it is just — it's beyond me, given the last two outcomes of the Special Counsel charges, their findings. That just blows me away,” Sugent said.
Sugent also says he’s shocked FAA management is instructing controllers to combine positions.
“DCA had numerous near mid-airs and close proximity airplanes that they knew about for a long time, and they ignored it, and look what happened. We have all this empirical data to show that this is unsafe, and now they're going to combine positions just to get that taken care of? And then what?” Sugent said. “They talk about the Swiss cheese. Everything's going to line up at some point, given the dereliction and how they're running these operations.”
Watch below: ‘It’s a safety issue.’ Questions raised about GPS-based landing systems at US airports following 7 Investigators' report
“Someone should be focused on one runway. They should not be combining jobs, and in this time of high stress, there are a lot of issues happening that deeply concern me and I'm asking FAA for answers,” Dingell said. “The fatigue of these air traffic controllers who are trying their best. But how much stress and how much responsibility can any person take on?”
Meanwhile, Dingell told FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford in her letter Tuesday that, “The refusal by local tower leadership to employ these alternatives puts both pilots and passengers at risk.”
Dingell says she and Rep. Rashida Tlaib recently toured the tower at metro airport. She says they were able to see firsthand how hard the air traffic controllers work and how much they care about safety, but also she got a close-up look at all of the aging equipment.
She says that’s a problem across the country that she’s eager to work with the FAA to help solve.
“We owe the FAA controllers who are working stressfully every single day to keep us safe the updated equipment that they need to keep us safe. And we need to tell people when you're flying, you are safe,” Dingell said.
You can read Dingell's entire letter below
Rep. Dingell letter to FAA over DTW's use of ILS-Y by WXYZ-TV Channel 7 Detroit on Scribd