Alarm Bells Sounded About Newark Air Traffic Control Months Ago

Air traffic controllers repeatedly warned about critical safety issues, and identified telecommunications outages affecting Newark Liberty International Airport as early as August 2024, months before a dangerous communications blackout April 28, reports CNN.

CNN’s review of safety reports, air traffic audio and other records found that one controller wrote in a previously unreported statement in August 2024 that only luck had prevented a “catastrophic midair collision” after a communications breakdown that occurred as multiple planes were routed into the same area to avoid thunderstorms. 

Further, several times over the last year, Newark approach controllers lost radar or radio service, leaving them unable to talk with planes they were tracking. “We just lost all frequencies and communications here,” one controller told pilots in November 2024, according to recordings of air traffic audio. 

The April 28 loss of radar and radio at the air traffic site for about 90 seconds last week led to multiple controllers taking trauma leave from work, contributing to an ongoing “meltdown” at Newark, exacerbated when Newark’s approach controllers were moved to Philadelphia last summer.