Newark Airport experienced its second radar outage in just two weeks on Friday, amplifying concerns about the aging air traffic control system that has contributed to hundreds of flight delays and cancellations across the region.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed that a “telecommunications outage” affected radar displays and communications at Philadelphia TRACON Area C, which guides aircraft in and out of Newark Airport, according to Patch .
Brief but Alarming System Failure
The latest outage occurred at 3:55 a.m. Friday and lasted approximately 90 seconds, during which air traffic controllers temporarily lost visual contact with aircraft under their guidance. Controllers were heard notifying a FedEx plane that their screens had gone dark, according to ABC News .
This incident closely follows a more serious outage on April 28 that resulted in hundreds of flight delays, diversions, and cancellations when controllers similarly lost radar and communications capabilities.
Equipment and Staffing Crisis Deepens
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has attributed these technical failures to an “incredibly old” and outdated system that reportedly still relies on floppy disks and copper wires. “The system that we’re using is not effective to control the traffic that we have in the airspace today,” Duffy stated during a recent press conference…