May 9 (UPI) — Radar screens at New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport shut off Friday for the second time in a week.
ABC News reported that air traffic controllers were heard telling FedEx aircraft employees that their screens went blank and for the pilots to ask their company to use its influence to get the screen issue fixed.
In a separate situation, a controller told a private jet on arrival to stay at or above 3,000 feet because of the radar outage in case the controllers couldn’t make contact as the plane prepared to land.
The Federal Aviation Administration reported Friday that “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,” and that “the outage occurred around 3:55 a.m. on Friday, May 9, and lasted approximately 90 seconds.”
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy posted to social media Friday, saying, “We should not be relying on air traffic control technology that came out during the glory days of Elvis [and] Duran Duran.” He added: “That’s why we’ve unveiled a plan to build a brand new system and train the best and brightest air traffic controllers.”
Duffy had outlined a plan Thursday to revamp the nation’s entire air traffic control system, parts of which rely on components over 50 years old. He also said some towers will need to come down and be fully rebuilt, but the main focus will be on the replacement of outdated radar and communication systems.
An outage at Newark last week left ATC computer screens dark for between a minute and 90 seconds, which prevented controllers from being able to even speak with pilots of incoming and outgoing flights and resulted in a brief hold on departures.
The first incident caused several controllers to go on medical leave, as they considered it a traumatic event. Controllers can take at least 45 days away from their jobs and must be medically evaluated before they can return.
United CEO Scott Kirby said in a press release Wednesday that “all the flights in and out of [Newark Airport] are absolutely safe.”
He added, though, that while Newark Liberty International is a crown jewel of the region and an international gateway for the United States, and that nearly 50 million people flew through there last year, “the truth is there are more flights scheduled there than the FAA can handle.”