FAA says Newark radar outage lasted about 90 seconds; telecom redundancy failed
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Summary
FAA officials told senators a Newark airspace outage in April was caused when a redundant telecom line failed to take over after the primary line went down; the FAA said it has implemented corrective measures and is adding further redundancy.
Senators pressed FAA officials about a radar and communications outage that disrupted Newark Liberty International Airport operations; the agency said the event lasted roughly 90 seconds and was caused when a redundant telecommunications line failed to automatically take over after a primary feed failed.
Franklin McIntosh told the committee that the Newark disruption was traced to a telecommunication provider: "The primary line that came in failed. We have a secondary redundant line ... and that redundant line is supposed to assume that load. When we lost that first line, the second line did not kick in like it was designed to do," McIntosh said. He called 90 seconds "a long time for an air traffic controller" and said the FAA implemented corrective measures with the local vendor and is installing a third line of redundancy for the area.
Committee members asked how dangerous the 90‑second loss of radar and communications was for the flying public. McIntosh said he did not believe there was a significantly heightened danger given controller procedures and onboard collision avoidance systems (TCAS), but emphasized the FAA wants to “remove any bit of that risk” and improve contingencies.
Senator Duckworth and others pressed the FAA on how often the agency simulates main‑system failures to assure backups will work; McIntosh said maintenance checks are required but he would "do an IOU and check and follow‑up" on whether tests simulate simultaneous dual‑line failures. Senators also requested follow‑up information about the local vendors involved; McIntosh identified Verizon and Crown Castle as telecom providers for the Philadelphia/Newark area.
The FAA said it has accelerated contingency planning, pushed a software update to fix the Newark backup behavior, and assembled a task force with vendors and agency technical staff to harden the network. McIntosh told senators the task force began meeting the day before the hearing and expects redundancies to be in place "this summer."