Denver International Airport lost communication with pilots accessing its air traffic control system for almost 90 seconds on Monday. Equipment failures were blamed for a fault that could have led to catastrophic outcomes.
The incident came just days after Newark Liberty International Airport reported delays due to ongoing tech issues like radar screens blanking out in front of harried air traffic controllers, as Breitbart News reported.
The Denver Post reports its own local air traffic tech failure came as a consequence of the Denver Air Route Traffic Control Center losing communication with pilots for just under two minutes at 1:50 p.m. on Monday when transmitters that cover a segment of airspace went down.
The center, in Longmont, is one of 22 across the United States and covers 285,000 miles of airspace over nine states, including portions of Wyoming, Kansas, Utah, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota and Arizona, the outlet detailed.
The outage impacted a primary and main backup frequency but not radar operations, FAA’s head of air traffic control Frank McIntosh said during a U.S. House of Representatives hearing Thursday, as confirmed by AP.
The Denver Post report added context to its story by listing other recent similar events, sating:
The outage occurred as the FAA is under increased scrutiny following recent plane crashes and other mishaps, including a deadly midair collision between a passenger jet and an Army helicopter in January that killed 67 people in Washington, D.C.
In recent weeks, a Philadelphia facility that directs planes in and out of Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey reported two radar and communication failures.
FAA officials have said the problems are caused in part by staff shortages and aging equipment.
Last week, President Donald Trump’s administration announced a multibillion-dollar plan to overhaul the country’s air traffic control system.
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