Lawmakers demand action after air traffic control lost contact with pilots at DIA
DENVER (KDVR) — Colorado lawmakers in Washington, D.C., are calling on the U.S. Department of Transportation to address travelers' and pilots' worries after a communication outage on May 12.
The Federal Aviation Administration told FOX31 last week that the Denver Air Route Traffic Control Center, located in Longmont, 'experienced a loss of communications for approximately 90 seconds.' The outage occurred on Monday, May 12, at about 1:50 p.m., according to the FAA, causing about 20 pilots to not have contact with ground crews.
Christian overnight camp says it will be shut down under Colorado's gender identity rules
However, a letter from legislators said that pilots may not have been able to contact air traffic control for up to six minutes while flying on Sunday.
The FAA said controllers used another frequency to relay instructions to pilots, but lawmakers and others are still worried about the matter. The incident isn't alone, as the Newark Liberty International Airport has reportedly had four such outages since April 28.
But legislators are worried, issuing a letter on Tuesday demanding immediate action from USDOT to avoid catastrophic situations, such as the mid-air collision of a Blackhawk helicopter and a commercial jet near Ronald Reagan International Airport earlier this year. There were no survivors on either vehicle.
Denver International Airport is among America's largest airports and was ranked the world's sixth busiest airport in 2023. Congressman Joe Neguse called the air traffic control communications outage 'unacceptable' on Tuesday.
Neguse, alongside Rep. Diana DeGette and Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, issued a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau, demanding that FAA personnel fired by the Department of Government Efficiency be reinstated to address low staffing levels and make upgrades to aging aircraft communications infrastructure.
'The Department of Transportation must take immediate action to restore the American people's faith in safe air travel,' wrote the Colorado legislators. 'While we are fortunate that our pilots safely managed this potentially catastrophic situation in Denver, this incident is part of an unacceptable pattern that many airports across the country are experiencing.'
Aviation lawyer says communication outage at DIA part of troubling nationwide trend
Joseph LoRusso, director of aviation at Ramos Law, told FOX31 last week that these kinds of communication outages were once uncommon, but are becoming much more common.
'It's not uncommon for airliners or planes of any type to lose communications with ATC, miss a transfer or something like that, end up calling on guard saying 'hey, what frequency am I supposed to be on again,'' said LoRusso.
He also pointed to outdated communications equipment.
'It's like watching the Roman Colosseum crumble, right? You're watching this system nationwide just systematically fall apart,' said LoRusso.
The U.S. legislators agreed and blamed DOGE for cutting personnel needed to keep U.S. airways safe.
'The cuts at the FAA that the secretary and the Department of Government Efficiency engaged in and implemented earlier this year have had real-world consequences,' Neguse told FOX31 on Tuesday. 'It makes no sense to fire qualified, professional air traffic controllers and essential personnel at the FAA and a litany of other important federal agencies.'
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced a plan earlier this month to rebuild and modernize the air traffic control system.
Jet had to abort takeoff to avoid runway collision at New York's LaGuardia Airport
'As this new technology becomes available, we can actually deploy it, and we're going to build upon the safety, build upon the technology, innovation that's going to happen in this country to try and make airspace safer and more efficient,' Duffy said in a press conference.
Duffy's plan calls for everything to be finished by 2028, but Congress must approve the funding. Neguse told FOX31 on Tuesday that Congress is ready to help update outdated systems.
'Put simply, this administration's actions are making American airspace less safe and putting American lives at risk every time they travel,' Neguse, DeGette, Bennet and Hickenlooper wrote in their shared letter.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time Magazine
9 minutes ago
- Time Magazine
Where Things Stand With the Epstein Files Following Musk's Allegation Against Trump
The breakdown in relations between President Donald Trump and his one-time ally Elon Musk has played out over social media in spectacular fashion, with the two engaging in a tit-for-tat spat. The row initially started over politics. Musk expressed his vehement disapproval of Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill,' calling it a 'disgusting abomination' and encouraging people to 'kill the bill.' Meanwhile, Trump maintained that the fall-out was prompted by Musk being upset over the removal of electric vehicle subsidies —a provision that made Tesla vehicles more affordable. But the fight has since taken a far more personal turn, bolstered by Musk's allegation that Trump is listed in the files related to the late financier and alleged sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. 'That is the real reason they have not been made public,' Musk said in a post shared via his social media platform, X. He did not provide evidence pertaining to this. The accusation has spurred Democrats to chase the full unsealing of the Epstein files. California Rep. Robert Garcia and Massachusetts Rep. Stephen F. Lynch—Democratic members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform—sent a letter on June 5 to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Kash Patel. 'We write with profound alarm at allegations that files relating to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have not been declassified and released to the American public because they personally implicate President Trump,' read the letter titled 'Is Trump Suppressing The Epstein Files?' The White House responded, saying that the move by the Oversight Committee members was 'another baseless stunt that bears no weight in fact or reality.' Here's what to know about the Epstein files and the renewed push to declassify them following Musk's allegation. What do we know about the Epstein files so far? On Feb. 27, Bondi released more than 100 pages of declassified documents related to Epstein—as part of the Trump Administration's vow to be more transparent regarding the high-profile case. During the presidential election, Trump promised to appease the clamoring for the alleged 'client list' of Epstein's since his arrest and subsequent death by suicide in 2019. Though Bondi called this the 'first phase' of declassified files, people were underwhelmed by the published pages, as much of the text had been redacted. Bondi's release included Epstein's 'black book,' which had previously been published. It featured names like Trump and former President Bill Clinton, but as the New York Times reported, there were people in the book with whom Epstein had never even met, and thus listed names are not necessarily connected to Epstein's activities. One of the only never-before-seen documents included in the release was an 'Evidence List' of catalogued evidence obtained by investigators. Bondi blamed the FBI for the fact that the report was incomplete, suggesting in a published letter to Patel that the FBI had more information related to Epstein. Bondi ordered Patel to deliver the rest of the investigation documents and 'conduct an immediate investigation' to understand why she had only received parts of the files. There is much discussion as to whether a fully-fledged 'Epstein client list' even exists. Jacob Shamsian, Business Insider's legal correspondent who has covered the Epstein case for years, said via social media on Feb. 27: 'I should also point out that the 'Jeffrey Epstein client list' does not exist and makes no sense on multiple levels (you think he made a list???). But if Pam Bondi wants to prove me wrong, I welcome it.' Will the Musk allegations prompt the release of further Epstein files? Musks' allegations have brought the Epstein files back into the spotlight, but there were already calls for them to be published in full. In April, Trump was asked by a reporter about when the next phase of the files are due to be released, to which he responded: 'I don't know. I'll speak to the Attorney General about that. I really don't know.' Since then, Democrats have continued to push for more documents to be released. Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman of New York released a statement in May, 'demanding that [Bondi] promptly release the Jeffrey Epstein Files in full.' Spurred by Musk's allegation, Democrats including Garcia, Goldman, and Lynch are now renewing these calls for more transparency. But it remains to be seen whether or not the pressure will be enough for Bondi, Patel, or Trump to provide more answers. What do we know about Trump's relationship with Epstein? Trump's connection to Epstein dates back decades. In a 2002 interview with New York magazine, he famously said that Epstein was 'a lot of fun to be with.' 'It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side,' Trump told the reporter. In July 2019, NBC News' TODAY released unearthed video footage believed to be from 1992, which showed Trump greeting Epstein at his Mar-a-Lago estate. The two men could be seen laughing as they engaged in conversation. After Epstein's 2019 arrest on federal sex trafficking charges, Trump made strides to distance himself. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office in 2019, Trump said: 'I had a falling out with him [Epstein]. I haven't spoken to him in 15 years. I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you.'
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
3 Terrible Companies To Lose $5 Billion in Federal Green Energy Loans
In the last days of the Biden administration, the Energy Department dolled out billions of dollars for politically favored green energy projects. The Trump administration is looking to claw this funding back. The Energy Department is getting ready to "cancel seven major loans and loan guarantees that had been conditionally approved under the Biden administration," reports Semafor. This action will cancel approximately $5 billion worth of funding for a transmission project by a New Jersey utility company, a loan program for low-income homeowners to install rooftop solar panels by Sunnova, and a Monolith Nebraska factory to produce low-carbon ammonia. The remaining four projects, which collectively received over $3 billion, include three battery factories and a plastics and recycling facility, which "were already previously cancelled by their companies because of other various headwinds," according to Semafor. The three active projects that will have their federal loans axed have faced their own share of problems. In September 2023, Sunnova received a $3 billion partial loan guarantee from the Energy Department's Loan Programs Office (LPO) for Project Hestia—a program that would make residential rooftop solar, battery storage, and virtual power plants "available to more American homeowners." Hestia was expected to provide loans to as many as 115,000 homeowners in the United States and Puerto Rico for these technologies, while creating "3,400 good-paying, high-quality American jobs." After receiving the federal loan, Sunnova came under fire for its alleged history of predatory practices and scamming elderly clients, which led to subsequent congressional scrutiny. In April, Sunnova began filing for bankruptcy. The company recently said it was no longer planning to use the programming funding and was working with the Energy Department to return the remaining guarantees. Monolith received a $953 million conditional loan guarantee from the LPO to accelerate its clean hydrogen and carbon utilization project in Nebraska. The company, which has received backing from BlackRock and NextEra Energy and was valued at over $1 billion in 2022, creates hydrogen fuel with renewable energy (which can be used to make ammonia in fertilizers) and carbon black. Despite the federal funding and private sector support, The Wall Street Journal reported in September 2024 that the company was "running short on cash and facing project delays." The third project facing the ax is New Jersey's Clean Energy Corridor, "a project to upgrade and expand transmission infrastructure to accommodate planned generation in New Jersey to meet growing electricity demand." Run by Jersey Central Power & Light Company, the project received a conditional loan guarantee of up to $716 million in January to support the state's goal of "introducing 11,000 MW of offshore wind-generated electricity by 2035." When First Energy, which owns Jersey Central, first announced the project in 2022, Danish energy company Orsted was planning two large wind projects off New Jersey's coast. The projects were canceled in 2023. Another New Jersey offshore wind project was recently halted after the Environmental Protection Agency rescinded the project's environmental permits. Despite these project cancellations and the LPO's history of questionable and risky investments, it does not appear that the office is going away soon; Energy Secretary Chris Wright recently told lawmakers that his agency would use the LPO to advance nuclear energy projects. Assuming Wright fully cuts billions of dollars worth of wasteful projects and narrows the agency's scope to only fund nuclear power projects, it's possible that the LPO's budget—which ballooned to over $400 billion under the Biden administration—could meaningfully shrink. Still, a meaningfully reduced budget is not enough. With the national deficit climbing to over $28 trillion in debt held by the public, taxpayers can no longer afford to support the federal government's fantasy that it should be a green bank. The post 3 Terrible Companies To Lose $5 Billion in Federal Green Energy Loans appeared first on Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump Team Scrambles After Report He's Killing Manufacturing Jobs
The labor market is slowing, but it's all good news in the White House. The U.S. added 139,000 jobs in May, a slight decline from April, according to a jobs report released Friday. The unemployment rate remained at 4.2 percent, still within the ballpark of historic lows reached in 2023, when the unemployment rate reached 3.4 percent—the lowest it had been in more than five decades. But within the folds of the report hid a major red flag for Donald Trump's agenda: The U.S. is still bleeding manufacturing jobs. 'GREAT JOB NUMBERS, STOCK MARKET UP BIG! AT THE SAME TIME, BILLIONS POURING IN FROM TARIFFS!!!' Trump celebrated on Truth Social. But even the president's favorite conservative network couldn't hide its dismay at the slight manufacturing downturn. 'Now, 8,000 manufacturing jobs were lost in May. That's not what you wanted to see,' said Fox Business host Stuart Varney. 'Well, we're certainly holding steady,' said Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer. 'And under the Trump administration, manufacturing jobs are still up over what the last administration, under [Joe] Biden, had. 'The focus of my 'America at Work' tour is to increase those manufacturing jobs, and we'll continue to stay laser focused on that as the president continues to double down on how important this is to the American economy,' she added. 'But how come we're losing 8,000 manufacturing jobs in May, when there's a big push to bring manufacturing jobs back to America? How come we're losing those jobs?' Varney pressed. Chavez-DeRemer was stuck in her script. 'We're certainly holding steady,' she insisted. Since the beginning of April, Trump has pitched his global tariff agenda as a means to return manufacturing jobs to U.S. shores. But two months later, the president's on-again, off-again tariffs have done little more than add tumult to American markets and trade. Investors have learned to play the market by an unflattering acronym—TACO, or 'Trump always chickens out'—while administration officials such as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick have blundered by publicly admitting they have no intention of bringing tariffs between the U.S. and other nations down to zero.
