Newark Airport Loses Radar Contact For 2nd Time In 2 Weeks: FAA

NEWARK, NJ — For the second time in two weeks, the radar screens went dark at Newark Airport in New Jersey.

On Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that a “telecommunications outage” impacted communications and radar display at Philadelphia TRACON Area C, which guides aircraft in and out of Newark Airport.

The outage took place at 3:55 a.m. and lasted about 90 seconds, the FAA said.

Air traffic controllers were heard telling a FedEx plane that their screens went dark, ABC News reported. In another transmission, a controller told an arriving private jet to stay at or above 3,000 feet in case they couldn’t contact them during its descent.

A similar nerve-wracking experience took place at the airport on April 28. For an unclear amount of time – some reports say more than a minute – the air traffic controllers lost radar and communications with the planes that were under their guidance, effectively rendering the controllers “unable to see, hear or talk to them.”

Hundreds of delays, diversions and cancellations followed. Read More: Air Traffic Controllers Lost Contact With Planes At NJ Airport, Reports Say

In the wake of the April 28 incident, several of the involved air traffic controllers took absences from their jobs under a law that protects federal employees who experience a traumatic event to leave work. See Related: Newark Airport Delays Come As Some Controllers Are On Trauma Leave

For the past week, passengers at Newark Airport in New Jersey have been pulling their hair out over a series of cancellations and delays. A chronic lack of air traffic controllers and antiquated, malfunction-prone equipment is being blamed for many of the problems.

Other factors that are adding to the chaos include ongoing runway construction and passenger totals that are among the highest in the airport’s history.

>> Read More: Newark Airport ‘Chaos’ Continues (5 Reasons Behind The Delays)

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy has linked the tech failures at Newark Airport to an “incredibly old” and outdated system, which still uses floppy disks and copper wires.

“The system that we’re using is not effective to control the traffic that we have in the airspace today,” Duffy said at a recent news conference, adding that the system is safe but prone to causing delays.

The transportation secretary discussed plans to boost the number of air traffic controllers across the nation last week, outlining a blueprint for an aggressive recruitment campaign. Duffy said the agency is on track to hire at least 2,000 controllers in the U.S. this year.

Meanwhile, there’s a plan in the works to take immediate steps to fix the equipment malfunctions by “accelerating technological and logistical improvements,” the FAA said.

• See Related: Chaos Prompts Federal Intervention At NJ Airport

Several elected officials have joined a growing chorus of frustrated passengers in a call for change, including Gov. Phil Murphy, who recently said that “decades of underinvestment” and “inadequate air traffic control staffing” have created a frail system across the nation – not just in New Jersey.

It may be a while before the situation gets much better, some pundits say.

Last week, the CEO of United Airlines – which maintains a hub in Newark – announced that the airline is cancelling 35 roundtrip flights per day from its schedule at the beleaguered airport.

“Keep in mind, this particular air traffic control facility has been chronically understaffed for years and without these controllers, it’s now clear – and the FAA tells us – that Newark airport cannot handle the number of planes that are scheduled to operate there in the weeks and months ahead,” he said.

In the meanwhile, the delays and cancellations continue at Newark Airport.

According to FlightAware, there were nearly 300 delays and more than 130 cancellations at the airport as of Friday afternoon.

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