“Everything Went Dark”: Newark Air Traffic Controller Speaks Out After Sudden Radar and Comms Blackout

In a rare and candid account, an air traffic controller working the critical airspace around Newark Liberty International Airport has spoken out about the terrifying moment when radar and communication systems suddenly went dark during a recent shift.

The controller, who requested anonymity due to federal employment restrictions, described a chilling few minutes that felt like an eternity. “Everything just went dark,” he said. “One second we were coordinating multiple inbound flights, and the next, screens froze and radio silence hit us. No radar. No comms. Nothing.”

The incident, which occurred earlier this week, has raised serious concerns about infrastructure vulnerabilities in one of the busiest flight corridors in the United States. While the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has yet to provide a full statement, internal reports suggest that the outage may have stemmed from a technical failure within the East Coast air traffic control grid a system already under stress from increasing flight volumes and outdated equipment.

“It was chaos, but silent chaos,” the controller explained. “We immediately switched to manual coordination, trying to relay through any channel we had left. It was like flying blind only we weren’t the ones in the air.”

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While no midair collisions or major emergencies occurred, aviation experts are calling the blackout a near miss. Former FAA inspector Lori Benshaw commented, “When you lose radar and communication simultaneously, every second counts. It’s a miracle no one was hurt.”

This blackout adds pressure to already growing calls for urgent modernization of America’s air traffic control infrastructure. Legislators and aviation unions have repeatedly warned that outdated systems and chronic underfunding could lead to disaster.

The anonymous controller says he’s speaking out because he wants the public to understand just how fragile the system can be. “We handled it. But we shouldn’t have to operate under conditions that risky. If something had gone wrong up there, it would’ve been on all of us and the system.”

The FAA has launched an investigation into the Newark incident. Meanwhile, air traffic controllers nationwide are once again demanding reforms before something worse happens.

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