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. The outage occurred around 3:55 a.m. on Friday, May 9, and lasted approximately 90 seconds.
After the first outage on April 28th, an air traffic controller who had been on duty that day told CNN it “…was the most dangerous situation you could have.” CNN reports that after a change made last July, the airport’s radar and radio communication flows over a single data feed from a facility in New York, where controllers used to manage Newark’s flights, to Philadelphia.
The FAA has announced a plan to replace the current copper connection with fiber, as well as adding “three new, high-bandwidth telecommunications connections between the New York-based STARS and the Philadelphia TRACON,” and more air traffic controllers. Until those and other changes are made, the agency also said a new backup system is being deployed in Philadelphia, but it’s unclear when that will be available.
NBC News reports the Friday outage affected a limited number of sectors, but it’s another incident in the string of issues that have highlighted the problems with the airport’s aging control system and lack of staffing.
As of 12:30PM ET, FlightAware stats showed 292 total delays for flights into or out of Newark, which is also experiencing delays due to runway construction.
While announcing flight cancellations for Newark after last week’s outage, United CEO Scott Kirby had said issues “were compounded as over 20 percent of the FAA controllers for EWR walked off the job,” but a union spokesperson explained that controllers took absences as a result of experiencing such a traumatic incident. CNN reported that at least five employees took 45 days leave of absence as a result. A statement from the FAA said, “Frequent equipment and telecommunications outages can be stressful for controllers. Some controllers at the Philadelphia TRACON who work Newark arrivals and departures have taken time off to recover from the stress of multiple recent outages.”
