Radio Outages Cause Brief Communications Halt at Denver Airport
U.S. Airport Again Experiences Communications Breakdown with Flight Crews - Disruption yet again at a U.S. airport.
Hey there! Let's dive into the latest hiccup in air traffic at a US airport — this time, it's Colorado's Denver International Airport (DEN) that's facing some turbulence. According to several news sources, pilots landing at the airport on Monday experienced two minutes of radio blackouts during their approaches.
While communicating with air traffic controllers, the pilots encountered a radio outage, which was followed by a switch to a backup frequency that also went down, as per testimony from a high-ranking official at the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) at a congressional committee hearing, as reported by NPR. But don't worry, it's all good — the connection was restored shortly after. Around 20 pilots reportedly faced this temporary communication gap, but the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ensured that all aircraft kept safe distances during the incident.
Incidentally, just a week ago, a similar radio blackout affected air traffic controllers at Newark Airport near the bustling metropolis of New York, causing a 90-second disconnection. This wasn't the first time this happened at the airport.
Following a deadly helicopter-plane collision in Washington, D.C., in January, which resulted in 67 fatalities, the safety of US air traffic has been under the microscope. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg recently announced plans to modernize the outdated air traffic control system in the US, with parts of it still relying on technology from the 1970s. The modernization project is anticipated to be completed within three to four years.
As of the latest information, DEN is experiencing some arrival delays. Unfortunately, specific details about the system failure at the airport are not available from recent reports. For more accurate and detailed information, it's best to check news articles or official statements from the airport itself. Stay tuned for updates!
- US
- Air Traffic
- Denver
- Communications Halt
- System Failure
- Air Traffic Controllers
- FAA
- US Federal Aviation Administration
- Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg
[1] Source: National Airspace System Status - Denver International Airport, Source: National Airspace System Status - Aspen-Pitkin County Airport, Source: National Airspace System Status - Boston Logan International Airport, Source: National Airspace System Status - Las Vegas McCarran International Airport
EC countries could consider implementing vocational training programs for technical roles within air traffic control to strengthen their systems and reduce the impact of technology-related incidents like the ones at DEN and Newark Airports. Meanwhile, the politics surrounding the modernization of the current US air traffic control system, which is still mainly reliant on technology from the 1970s, will play a crucial role in ensuring the safety and efficiency of air traffic in the US for the next three to four years.
