U.S. Airports Had Over 40 Air Traffic Control Outages In Recent Years, Reportedly

Forbes

21-05-2025

More than 40 reports of radar and radio glitches at dozens of air traffic control facilities have occurred since 2022, CNN reports, suggesting communication breakdowns are relatively commonplace and go far beyond Newark.
At Tampa International Airport in 2023, an air traffic controller temporarily lost contact with ... More planes on a "collision course." (Photo by Mike Ehrmann)
More than 40 reports of radar and radio failures at dozens of airports nationwide were filed to NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System since 2022, CNN reported.
According to a 2023 report, one veteran air traffic controller in Tampa described losing all contact with pilots as two planes, including a commercial passenger flight, narrowly missed each other after converging on a clear 'collision course.'
Describing a tech failure in 2022 that 'literally put someone's life in danger,' an Indiana-based air traffic controller described losing communication with a plane making an emergency landing after a door blew off.
The FAA declined to confirm the accuracy of CNN's report, but said in a statement: 'The FAA has more than 74,000 pieces of equipment in the National Airspace System. Every air traffic control facility has a contingency plan to ensure safety, and we have built-in redundancies, backup systems, and procedures in the case of system failure, weather, or other unplanned event.'
In the past three weeks, air traffic controllers guiding planes into New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport experienced four equipment outages of between 2 seconds and 45 minutes, during which air traffic controllers lost contact with planes they were guiding to land at the airport.
On May 12, air traffic controllers at Denver International Airport lost contact with pilots for at least 90 seconds when multiple radio transmitters failed, the FAA confirmed.
Michael McCormick, former vice president of FAA Management Services, urged caution in reading the NASA database incidents, noting that reporting is voluntary and anonymous and some controllers and pilots 'tend to engage in hyperbole,' according to CNN.
The FAA's aging infrastructure is straining the country's air traffic system. In recent weeks, controllers responsible for the nation's airspace have experienced a string of equipment outages and other technological failures at airports around the country. 'What you see in Newark is going to happen in other places across the country,' U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted during an interview on May 11 on NBC's 'Meet the Press With Kristen Welker, adding, 'I'm concerned about the whole airspace.' Duffy has characterized the existing equipment as safe, but old. 'We have redundancies, multiple redundancies in place to keep you safe when you fly,' Duffy told Welker. 'But we should also recognize we're seeing–we're seeing stress on an old network, and it's time to fix it.'
Besides the four outages at Newark Airport, recent weeks have seen similar communication breakdowns at Denver International Airport, William P. Hobby Airport in Houston and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the nation's busiest. The CNN article mentions reported incidents at 'dozens' of airports stretching back to 2022, specifically citing Tampa, Miami and an unspecified facility in Indiana.
The chances of dying in a commercial airline crash is miniscule, with a fatality rate of 17 deaths per billion passengers, according to the latest safety report by the International Civil Aviation Organization. The FAA oversees roughly 45,000 flights per day in U.S. airspace. In the event of a communication failure between air traffic control and planes, both the FAA and airlines have backup plans. 'Every air traffic control facility has a contingency plan to ensure safety, and we have built-in redundancies, backup systems, and procedures in the case of system failure, weather, or other unplanned event,' the FAA said in a statement. 'When equipment issues occur, the FAA will ensure safety by slowing down air traffic at an airport.' Likewise, commercial pilots are trained to handle a wide range of situations, including outages. Earlier this month, United Airlines released a video of a veteran pilot explaining the several layers of redundancies, 'including additional facilities that will provide radar services and a safe handoff to the tower facility in the event of an equipment outage,' Captain Miles Morgan says in the video. 'On the flight deck, we have advanced safety technology that allows pilots to see other aircraft around us.'
On May 8, Duffy announced a plan to completely rebuild the United States' air traffic control system, replacing outdated telecommunications with new fiber, wireless and satellite technologies and equipping controllers with new radar, radios and voice switches. Duffy said his agency would build a new system 'in three to four years' but needed Congress to allocate tens of billions of dollars to make that happen. The agency will roll out improvements in stages and prioritize facilities 'based on needs,' Frank McIntosh, the FAA's deputy chief operating officer for Air Traffic Organization, testified at a recent Senate hearing on FAA reauthorization.
Denver Airport Outage: Air Traffic Control Lost Contact With Up To 20 Pilots On Monday, Reports Say (Forbes)
Newark Airport Crisis (Live Updates): FAA To Cut Back On Flights To Ease Congestion (Forbes)