Denver Air Traffic Control Experiences Latest Equipment Failure

20 hours ago 1

The nation's ongoing air traffic control issues are no longer limited to the East Coast.

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials confirmed that air traffic controllers in Denver briefly lost communications with pilots during an outage on Monday, the Associated Press reported.

According to the FAA, the Denver Air Route Traffic Control Center lost communications for approximately 90 seconds.

During a Hearing on the Implementation of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 in Washington, DC, on Thursday, the agency's head of air traffic control, Frank McIntosh, said both the primary and main backup frequencies went down, forcing ATC officials to turn to an emergency frequency to communicate.

"Controllers used another frequency to relay instructions to pilots. Aircraft remained safely separated and there were no impacts to operations," said the FAA.

The troubling equipment failure comes on the heels of a string of problems involving air traffic controllers in Philadelphia impacting New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport.

Both sides of the aisle agree on an air traffic control overhaul, with lawmakers stressing a need for immediate action in regards to hiring more controllers and upgrading the equipment they rely on.

"We know that there are staffing and equipment problems at air traffic control," Rep. Robert Garcia of California said at Thursday's hearing, according to the AP. "We know that the problems have gone back decades in some cases, but it’s still an absolutely shocking system failure and we need immediate solutions."

The troubling news out of Denver comes amid tumultuous times in Newark, where air traffic controllers have been faced with multiple communications and even radar outages.

The safety issues have led to numerous flight delays and disruptions, with the FAA and airlines meeting this week to discuss potentially limiting flights into and out of the busy airport as a result.

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