Newark Liberty International Airport experienced significant disruptions last week, with hundreds of flights canceled and many more delayed. This chaos was partly triggered by an incident on April 28, when air traffic controllers faced a radar and communications blackout, leaving them unable to contact approaching planes. Despite no accidents occurring, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy reported that the outage lasted for 30 seconds. Following the incident, several air traffic controllers took leave to cope with stress and trauma. Combined with bad weather, a closed runway under repair, and an already understaffed air traffic controller team, this led to widespread disruption. David Grizzle, former chief operating officer and head of air traffic control for the Federal Aviation Administration, stated that the issues at Newark are not surprising given long-standing staffing and technology problems. He discussed the necessary steps to improve air traffic control in the U.S. — new from NPR
