Radar screens serving Newark Liberty International Airport went black early Friday morning, raising more air traffic safety concerns at the busy New Jersey hub, federal authorities said.
The outage shortly before 4 a.m. EDT lasted only 90 seconds on a limited number of sectors, the FAA said, but the blackout is still a troubling development in the wake of revelations that controllers lost radio contact with pilots flying into the airport in recent months.
The difficulties were traced to Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) network out of Philadelphia.
“There was a telecommunications outage that impacted communications and radar display at Philadelphia TRACON Area C, which guides aircraft in and out of Newark Liberty International Airport airspace,” according to an FAA statement. “The outage occurred around 3:55 a.m. on Friday, May 9, and lasted approximately 90 seconds.”
A current veteran controller said the situation is getting worse by the day.
“It’s a s— show, the controller told NBC News. “There’s new stuff every day. We work with a monkey on our back, knowing our equipment is not reliable. It’s like driving your car, knowing the brakes will go out any time.”
Any moment without radar access can have dire consequences, the controller said.
“It’s just dangerous, period, if you lose your radar!” the controller said. “Any hour of the day is dangerous if you lose radar. Every second, the airspace changes because planes are constantly moving.”
This latest snafu unfolded less than a day after federal authorities made an hour-plus presentation, explaining the inadequacies of American air traffic control systems and how they plan to upgrade it.
The officials often cited Newark as an example of where outdated technology is impacting travelers.
“And I guess you’re having a big problem in Newark that seems to be the one of the moment, the flavor of the moment,” President Donald Trump said Thursday.
“The equipment on most airplanes in the sky is now generations ahead of the ground systems and recently, and you’ve seen this, the controllers lost contact with planes for 30 critical seconds at Newark.”
