Lawmakers demand action after air traffic control lost contact with pilots at DIA
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.
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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.
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'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.
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