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Sean Duffy: “On May 9th, again, a 30 second outage, Scopes rebooted and…”

Featuring: Sean Duffy, Republican | Secretary of Transportation | National

Sean Duffy and FAA Deputy Administrator Discuss Newark Airport Upgrades and Air Traffic Control Challenges

Published May 28, 2025 | Video Starts at 01:23

So for radar it was a total of 90 seconds and it was 30 seconds total time for telecom. The same thing happened On May 9th, again, a 30 second outage, Scopes rebooted and that added another minute onto the timeframe in which we didn't have scopes or radar. At the Philly TRACON controlling Newark, we found that there was a problem, a glitch within our system. At the Philly tracon, we deployed a software update that actually fixed the glitch. (01:23–01:34)

CLAIM

Asserts a 30-second outage on May 9th, with an additional minute without scopes or radar.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Sean Duffy

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“On April 28th, there was a 32nd telecom outage. So we lost radar and we lost telecom.”
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Sean Duffy and FAA Deputy Administrator Discuss Newark Airport Upgrades and Air Traffic Control Challenges | Uploaded May 28, 2025 | 01:33-01:41
“On May 11, the main line went down and the backup line actually fired. It worked.”
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“On May 20, there was a two second, we called it a radio outage, but it was static on the line.”
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“We should be able to turn over to this new fiber line at the start of July.”
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“In training right now we have 16 controllers in training.”
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“The permitting process needs to be cleared to avoid delays in the air traffic control system project.”
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“The Philly TRACON for Newark had multiple outages last year.”
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“The system went down for 30 seconds in Newark on the telecom front at least.”
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“The last administration signed a 15-year contract to upgrade the telecom.”
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