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Newark Liberty International Airport on Monday experienced its fourth communications outage in less than a month. The Federal Aviation Administration says this latest outage lasted for two seconds at the Philadelphia air traffic control center, also known as TRACON, that handles flights into and out of Newark. The agency, which is investigating the latest outage, insists the system remains safe. But recent equipment failures, staffing shortages, and aging infrastructure have raised questions. Randy Babbitt served as FAA administrator from 2009 to 2011 under then Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. In an interview with NJ Spotlight News, Babbitt said he is not...

A ground stop was ordered at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport on Sunday due to an equipment outage. The Federal Aviation Administration issued the ground stop at 10:40 a.m. ET on Mother's Day. 'Departures to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International are grounded due to equipment outage,' the agency said. The ground stop was issued for flights scheduled to leave from East Coast area airports bound for Atlanta, reported Atlanta News First. Arrivals were slowed down due to 'a runway equipment issue,' and technicians worked to fix the issue. The ground stop was lifted shortly before 12:30 p.m., and departures continued to be delayed by...

Air Traffic Control lost radar for 90 seconds at Newark Airport on Friday. According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), there was a telecommunications outage at Newark Liberty International Airport. “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. The outage occurred around 3:55 a.m. on Friday, May 9, and lasted approximately 90 seconds,” the FAA said on Friday morning. ... United Airlines pulled 35 round-trip flights a day following a radar outage at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey...

Some air traffic controllers are on a 45-day "trauma leave" as Newark Liberty International Airport experiences ongoing staffing shortages amid the fallout from communication outages. Under the Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA), air traffic controllers are entitled to a 45-day Continuation of Pay (COP), or "trauma leave," for mental health conditions, like stress, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), from an identifiable work-related incident. "Frequent equipment and telecommunications outages can be stressful for controllers," the FAA said in a statement Monday. "Some controllers at the Philadelphia TRACON who work Newark arrivals and departures have taken time off to recover from...

Air traffic controllers who lost communication with aircraft at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, leading to hundreds of delays for more than a week, are taking special government leave for traumatic situations to recover from the stress. The controllers in Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control, which coordinates planes arriving at Newark, “temporarily lost radar and communications with the aircraft under their control, unable to see, hear, or talk to them,” on Monday April 28, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association said in a statement shared with CNN. The connectivity between Federal Aviation Administration radar and the frequencies that...

Newark Liberty International Airport is “not safe” for travelers, one air traffic controller at the has reportedly warned. “It is not safe. It is not a safe situation right now for the flying public,” the federal air safety employee reportedly told NBC News correspondent Tom Costello. “Really an incredible statement, unsolicited. He just said that to me, and separately, ‘Don’t fly into Newark. Avoid Newark at all costs,’” Costello recounted on MSNBC. The airport, which saw 24.3 million passengers and is the second busiest in the New York City area, has been drowning in delays and cancellations for days. Federal...

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has launched a new cash incentive program aimed at recruiting and retaining air traffic controllers, he announced Thursday. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will give $5,000 bonuses to all academy graduates and new hires that complete initial qualification training. Academy graduates assigned to 13 facilities that have faced additional hiring struggles will get $10,000. Additionally, certified professional controllers who are younger than 56 and opt not to retire when eligible will receive bonuses equal to 20 percent of their basic pay for each year they continue to work. The new incentives are being offered for a...

Two air traffic controllers traded punches when a shocking fight erupted inside the tower at Ronald Reagan National Airport, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal. The facility is already under massive scrutiny following January’s deadly midair collision between an American Airlines flight on final approach and an Army helicopter. And trouble flared again Thursday when a pair of on-duty tower controllers got into a blazing argument before one threw a punch at the other, a source tells us. By the time the brawling colleagues were separated, there was blood spattered over a control console, according to our insider. The tower would likely...

Over a third of the USA’s air traffic control systems are in an “unsustainable" state, and the FAA's decades-long project to upgrade them is not going well. That concerning situation was described on Tuesday by the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) in testimony to the House committee on transportation and infrastructure’s subcommittee on aviation. The auditors at the GAO examined 138 ATC operations and found that 51 (37 percent) were considered "unsustainable" by the FAA and 54 (39 percent) were "potentially unsustainable." The FAA deployed six of the ATC systems 60 years ago, and 40 are 30 years old....

Air traffic controllers are set to receive a 30% pay hike as President Donald Trump’s administration seeks to boost recruitment Thursday. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy made the announcement during a press conference at the air traffic controller’s academy in Oklahoma on Thursday. He argued that the pay structure and the technology air traffic controllers are forced to use are outdated. “Currently, students are paid $17.61 an hour. By the way, you might be able to go to Walgreens and make that, right? So we’re going to bump it up to $22.84 an hour,” Duffy said. “And again, I think making...

To be clear here, the Verizon communication system to air traffic control is breaking down very rapidly. The FAA assessment is single digit months to catastrophic failure, putting air traveler safety at serious risk. The Starlink terminals are being sent at NO COST to the taxpayer on an emergency basis to restore air traffic control connectivity. The situation is extremely dire. CBSnooze FREAKS OUT: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/starlink-faa-contract-elon-musk-conflict-of-interest/

Grady Block is an attorney with Mountain States Legal Foundation, which represents a group of air traffic controller candidates. He said the Obama-Biden administration looked at their clients and said, "You know, this looks a little bit too white for what we want.".. There is a sense of nervousness in the air after recent plane crashes across the country and many are questioning if hiring standards could be to blame. An attorney at the forefront of a historic lawsuit shared some discoveries from court on a recent episode of Liz Collin Reports. Grady Block is an attorney with Mountain States...

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has pushed for a massive upgrade of the Federal Aviation Administration, claiming their computer system still uses 'floppy discs.' As the nation is reeling from recent plane crashes, Duffy sounded the alarm on the antiquated FAA claiming there are systems in the network 'that are run on floppy discs.' 'The systems that we use are so old. I need the Congress to move faster with us. We can't wait four years, six years, 10 years. We have to do it right now,' Duffy told CBS News. Donald Trump's Administration has set its sights on replacing the...

The FAA allegedly added a question rewarding applicants for doing poorly on test, to get more African air traffic controller applicants... The Federal Aviation Administration is being sued in a class action lawsuit alleging it turned away nearly 1,000 air traffic controller applicants, solely based on their race. Former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, who now serves as co-counsel for Mountain States Legal Foundation based in Colorado, is leading efforts for a lawsuit that could .. force companies to hire employees based on skills. Laxalt said the lawsuit represents nearly 1,000 people who went to school to become air traffic...

Musk’s SpaceX team visiting key FAA command center — despite past frictions Multiple sources reporting. Placeholder discussion for FR blog

Air traffic controllers say an FAA “immunity program” fails to hold people accountable for their mistakes, even with deadly consequences. Current and former air traffic controllers warn that the Federal Aviation Administration’s hiring practices and “immunity program” have led to problems, such as those that may have resulted in the recent midair collison near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The FAA’s focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) hiring practices has resulted in the employment of less qualified air traffic controllers (ATCs) and a staffing shortage, former ATC's say. This, in addition to an “immunity program” that fails to hold...

On Wednesday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head Elon Musk said that DOGE’s team would “plug in” to “make rapid safety upgrades” to the air traffic control system after a string of aviation disasters and failures last week. “Big News – Talked to the DOGE team. They are going to plug in to help upgrade our aviation system,” wrote Duffy, to which Musk replied, “With the support of President Donald Trump, the DOGE team will aim to make rapid safety upgrades to the air traffic control system. Just a few days ago, the FAA’s primary...

We keep getting more and more proof that the Obama administration created a new policy that caused approximately 1,000 highly qualified air-traffic controller applicants to be rejected because they were white males.Some of these applicants had gotten a college degree in air-traffic control.Others had military flying experience.All of them were highly qualified.And they all got rejected because they were white males.Liberals keep pretending that it never happened.But it did happen.Here’s my updated list of sources:Google Scholar: Andrew J Brigida, Plaintiff, v. United States Department of Transportation, et al., Defendants.https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=2032774794459103534&q=BRIGIDA+v.+UNITED+STATES+DEPARTMENT+OF+TRANSPORTATION&hl=en&as_sdt=6,39&as_vis=1GovInfo: 16-2227 – BRIGIDA v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION et alhttps://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCOURTS-dcd-1_16-cv-02227Justia:...

Approximately 1,000 people who majored in air-traffic control or had military flying experience were rejected for air-traffic control jobs because they were white males. Liberals are pretending it never happened. Tell the world. https://danfromsquirrelhill.wordpress.com/2025/02/01/andrew-brigida/ #DEI #RebeccaLobach

What do you think of the following information about the hiring of air traffic controllers? Candidates “whose worst subject in high school was science [and who played a lot of sports] and candidates who are unemployed receive the most points possible on the test” (for the position), wrote The Blaze in 2018. “In contrast, licensed pilots and those with extensive air traffic control knowledge aren’t highly scored.” How could this be?It was the result of “diversity” efforts — what’s now called DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) — instituted under Barack Obama and continued by Joe Biden. It gets worse, though,...