Air traffic controllers in Denver experienced a 90-second communications outage with planes around the major airport earlier this week, prompting them to use backup frequencies due to another Federal Aviation Administration equipment failure. The outage at Denver International Airport occurred on Monday afternoon and affected only communications, not radar, according to Frank McIntosh, the FAA’s head of air traffic control. This incident follows two significant outages of radar and communications in the past two and a half weeks at a facility managing flights in and out of Newark, New Jersey. The FAA stated that the Denver Air Route Traffic Control Center lost communications for approximately 90 seconds, with both primary and main backup frequencies failing. Controllers had to resort to an emergency frequency to communicate with pilots. Despite the issue, aircraft remained safely separated, and there were no operational impacts. Concerns were raised during a House hearing about the increasing frequency of such outages and the need for immediate solutions to address staffing and equipment problems.
— new from ABC News
