Denver (KDVR) – After losing communications between aircraft and landfills on Monday, the aviation expert says it is part of a disturbing trend throughout the country.
The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed to us today that the traffic control center in Denver Air Force in LongMont witnessed a loss of communications for about 90 seconds on Monday. While the Federal Aviation Administration says there was no effect on the operations, the pilot and the aviation lawyer said this is another sign that the industry infrastructure needs comprehensive reform.
“It was not common. It has now become a common thing,” said Joseph Loruso, Director of Aviation in Ramos Law.
It is referred to as a pilot himself, and it is noteworthy that this type of position is referred to as ATC Zero. FAA says the control units were only able to communicate through an alternative channel, which Loruso says it is called “guard frequency.”
“It is not uncommon to lose aircraft or aircraft of any type of contact with ATC, or miss transportation or something like that, it ends up calling for the guard, saying, what is the frequency that I am supposed to be again,” says Loruso.
The pilots are also trained to speak directly with each other when COMMS descends with the tower.
“United calls Cesna, saying, are you landing? Because I will fall behind you. We are trained to do this, we are trained to return to what we call CTF or shared traffic frequencies,” said Loruso.
The loss of communication with DIA was not, but with a collapse in the LongMont often communicates with the aircraft that moves throughout the country. Loruso says that these planes do not need great guidance.
“Most of them are in the IFR plan, they know that they are moving from point A to point B,” Loruso said.
He says that preparation for this situation is an important part of experimental training.
“The experimental corps are well aware of dealing with the ATC Zero position. Now is it comfortable? Certainly no, not comfortable,” said Loruso.
But he believes he has become very common because of the old equipment he says has not been treated for decades.
“It is similar to watching Roman Colosseum, right? You are watching this system throughout the country systematically collapsing.”
It hopes that FAA will make changes to make these situations less common.
“You can no longer display a system,” said Loruso. “You have air traffic control units that do their best with a barely working system. You have pilots who do their best with a barely operating system.”
Loruso says it is customary that flights will not be based on this situation and it is not surprising that things are working as usual during the decrease of COMMS.