TELECOMMUNICATIONS outage hit air traffic controllers handling flights approaching and departing Newark Liberty International Airport early Friday morning (local time).

In a statement, the Federal Aviation Administration said the blackout included losing radar for about 90 seconds at 3:55 a.m. local time.

“There was a telecommunications outage that impacted communications and radar display at Philadelphia TRACON Area C, which guides aircraft in and out of Newark Liberty International Airport airspace,” read the statement.

The outage was the latest technical problems that have impacted the air traffic control system in the United States.

On April 28, an outage of radar and communications at the same facility left controllers unable to talk to planes or see where they were located.

A previous report by CNN stated that at least five controllers took 45 days of trauma leave after that incident, leading to a manpower shortage that caused canceled and delayed more than a thousand flights.

The Friday morning outage took place when few planes were arriving or departing, while the April 28 incident took place during a busy afternoon with about 16 aircraft being controlled at the time. About half of those flights diverted to other nearby airports.

• Tags
• #Radar Outage
• #Air Traffic Controllers
• #Newark Liberty International Airport
• #Federal Aviation Administration
• #Telecommunications Outage
• #Philadelphia TRACON Area C
• #Flight Diversion