FAA investigates communication lapse between air traffic controllers, aircrafts in Denver

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Thursday is investigating how air traffic controllers in Denver lost communication with pilots for 90 seconds earlier this week. 

The Denver Air Route Traffic Control Center lost communication with pilots on Monday afternoon after both transmitters that cover a segment of the Colorado airspace went down, Fox Business reported. The outage affected as many as 20 pilots.

The outage comes after air traffic controllers in Philadelphia lost communication with pilots flying into Newark at the end of April and again in May, which are just the latest air transportation issues to plague the new administration. Several deadly crashes and collisions, including one in January that resulted in the deaths of 67 people, have also rocked the travel industry. 

Sources told a local Denver outlet that despite the transmission failure, air traffic controllers were able to use an alternative frequency to relay instructions to pilots, and there were no impacts on operations. 

The air traffic control center in Denver oversees approximately 285,000 square miles of airspace over Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has acknowledged the ongoing communication issues that are impacting the air traffic control system, and unveiled a plan to fix the problem, which includes updating air traffic control technology. He is also expected to ask Congress for upfront funding that he believes will help solve the issues.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.