Transportation

Newark Radar Failure Left Controllers Blind for 90 Seconds

The FAA Air Traffic Control tower at Newark Liberty International Airport.

Photographer: Angus Mordant/Bloomberg
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Air traffic controllers guiding planes bound for Newark Liberty International Airport lost radar and radio communication for more than a minute early last week before flights at the key hub were snarled for days, according to people familiar with the matter.

The outage of those key systems occurred on April 28 and lasted nearly 90 seconds, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing the matter because it isn’t public. Following the incident, multiple employees were placed on trauma leave, the people said.