'Scopes just went black again': Air traffic controller makes 'extraordinary' plea to pilot
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New chilling audio of an apparently concerned and frustrated air traffic controller urging a pilot to get his company to apply pressure to fix the FAA’s technical issues was just released.
Over the past two weeks, air traffic controllers covering Newark Liberty International Airport have had to endure two separate system-wide outages that caused their radar scopes to go black and caused them to lose some communication with pilots, with the latest one occurring early Friday morning.
“FedEx 1989,” the unnamed air traffic controller can be heard saying (audio below), “our scopes just went black again.”
“If you care about this, contact your airline and try to get some pressure for them to fix this stuff,” the controller told the pilot.
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White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Friday told reporters it was a “glitch in the system” that “was caused by the same telecoms and software issues that were raised last week.”
Insisting there was “no operational impact,” she said the “DOT and the FAA are working to address this technical issue tonight to prevent further outage.”
Leavitt did not specify what caused the glitch or how it could be fixed now.
On Thursday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said it would take months to fix the problem.
“It’s going to take a little time. I hope by the summer we’re going to be fully functioning,” Secretary Duffy said, CBS News reported.
MSNBC vice president Jesse Rodriguez called it a “Pretty extraordinary plea from an air traffic controller.”
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ABC News added that in “another transmission, a controller told an arriving private jet that the airport just had a brief radar outage and to stay at or above 3,000 feet in case the controllers couldn’t get in touch during the aircraft’s descent.”
The FAA in a statement on Friday said that 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.”
CNN’s Pete Muntean posted the audio. Listen below or at this link.
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