BREAKING NEWS Denver Airport loses all air traffic control communications for 90 seconds sparking panic in skies over massive airport
Denver air traffic controllers lost communications for 90 seconds on Monday causing chaos in the skies over the massive travel hub.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the outage at Denver International Airport that severed communications with incoming flights.
'Part of the Denver Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) experienced a loss of communications for approximately 90 seconds around 1:50 p.m. local time on Monday, May 12, when both transmitters that cover a segment of airspace went down,' the agency said.
'Controllers used another frequency to relay instructions to pilots. Aircraft remained safely separated and there were no impacts to operations.'
As many as 20 pilots flying into the busy airport were unable to speak with air traffic controllers during the outage, Denver7 reported.
Sources told the outlet that a controller was able to contact one pilot using a guard line — which is typically used when a pilot is in distress — and that pilot was able to contact the other aircraft to tell them to change frequencies.
Four frequencies from the two main towers at the air traffic control center in Longmont were already out of service, according to the report.
Air traffic controllers were using a backup fifth frequency to talk to pilots, which then went out.
'The biggest risk is you have airplanes that you're not talking to. And then, therefore, the pilots have to try to figure it out themselves,' retired Denver air traffic controller David Riley told the news station. 'It says that the equipment is getting old.
'It's one thing to lose track of one airplane because you can't communicate with them, but to lose track of all of the airplanes that you had communication with.
'And from my understanding, in this situation, they still had radar coverage, but that's like watching a car crash happen and not be able to do anything about it.'
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