Incredible air traffic control (ATC) audio captures the moment staff lost radar and radio signals while guiding planes to Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey last week.
The April 28 outage lasted roughly 90 seconds. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association confirmed the incident to Fox News Digital, writing that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)’s operation in Philadelphia had “temporarily lost radar and communications with the aircraft under their control, unable to see, hear, or talk to them.”
The audio shows the initial moments of controllers learning of an outage at Philadelphia TRACON/ATCT.
“There is some equipment outages, so I don’t know what exactly the equipment is, but they’re having some frequency issues, and then the radar scopes are out, so they can’t have anyone depart right now,” one man is heard saying.
NEWARK AIRPORT HIT WITH NEW DELAYS, OUTAGE HEARD ON AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL AUDIO
A view of Newark Airport May 6, 2025. (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“I am going to move you here because I just got told that the approach lost all the radars. Three of the four radar screens went black and they have no frequencies,” another says.
Another man remarks, “I guess this is a serious issue because I have one more arrival, and now I have nobody else coming in back.”
The audio also captures controllers attempting to get more information about the outage.
“Any idea how long the departure delay is going to be?” one man asks in the audio.
“I have no idea. We’re still waiting on word from Newark TRACON,” another quickly replies.
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Travelers at a United Airlines Holdings Inc. check-in area in Terminal C of Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, N.J., Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (Bing Guan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“The approach just told me that a couple of techs went in, looked at the radar scope and walked out,” a man is heard saying. “They think it’s going to be a likely delay.”
The incident predated massive delays and cancellations at the New Jersey travel hub, which has been ongoing since Thursday.
In a statement obtained by FOX Business, the FAA addressed the staffing shortages that have contributed to the issue.
“While we cannot quickly replace [the controllers who have left] due to this highly specialized profession, we continue to train controllers who will eventually be assigned to this busy airspace,” the agency said Monday.
A view inside Newark Airport as travelers face eight straight days of massive delays, United Airlines canceling routes and staffing shortages in Newark, N.J., May 6, 2025. (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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“When staffing or equipment issues occur, the FAA will ensure safety by slowing the rate of arrivals into the airport. We will keep the public updated as we work through these issues.”
Fox News Digital’s Kyle Schmidbauer contributed to this report.