Radar screens serving Newark Liberty International Airport was black on Friday morning, raising more air traffic safety concerns in the busy New Jersey Center, federal authorities said.
The interruption shortly before 4 am lasted only 90 seconds in a limited number of sectors, said FAA, but the blecau is still a worrying development after the revelations that the controllers have lost contact with the pilots flying to the airport in recent months.
The difficulties were attributed to the Terminal radar approach control network (Tracon) outside the philadelphia.
“There has been a telecommunications interruption that impacted the exhibition of communications and radar in the field of Philadelphia Tracon, which guides aircraft inside and outside the Airspace of Newark Liberty International Airport,” according to a FAA statement. “The interruption occurred around 3:55 pm on Friday morning, May 9, and lasted approximately 90 seconds.”
The latter Snafu unfolded less than a day after federal authorities made a presentation of more than an hour, explaining the inadequacies of American air traffic control systems and how they plan to update it.
Employees often cite Newark as an example of where outdated technology is impacting travelers.
“And I think you’re having a big problem with Newark, which seems to be the moment, the taste of the moment,” said President Donald Trump on Thursday.
“The equipment in most planes in the sky is now generations ahead of soil systems and recently and you have seen it, the controllers have lost contact with airplanes for 30 critics in Newark.”