VITAL radio contact with pilots is failing nearly every week – putting passengers’ lives at risk – terrified air traffic controllers have warned. They’re faced with a constant “nightmare” following a catastrophic deadly crash, multiple near-misses and planes “flying blind” over New Jersey. Prior to today’s proposal by the White House, concerns were raised regarding the upcoming initiative to invest billions in revamping the outdated U.S. air traffic control infrastructure, in response to recent plane crashes and technical failures. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy revealed that the Department of Transportation will build a “brand new air traffic control system” by 2028. The department will also replace 618 radars, and construct six new air traffic control centers over the next few years. Accompanied by the CEOs of the five largest U.S. airlines, Duffy acknowledged, “this is bold, this is challenging,” as he unveiled the strategy to modernize technology across 4,600 U.S. air traffic control centers. He also mentioned the system malfunction at Newark Liberty International Airport in April, where air traffic controllers in nearby Philadelphia faced a nearly two-minute inability to communicate with planes through radar and radio. He said, “We had that 30 to 90 seconds of a blackout which is frightening. “And if we don’t actually accomplish the mission that we’re announcing today, you will see [the] Newark [outage] not just in Newark, you’ll see Newarks in other parts of the country. “Because it’s an aging system, and so we have to actually upgrade it.” Some of the equipment is so dated the government shops on eBay for replacement parts and some systems still use floppy disks Sean Duffy, Transportation Secretary To prove his point, he then pointed on stage to examples of the ancient equipment that air traffic controllers are currently using in the US “to keep our skies safe.” Duffy warned, “It is old, and looks like it’s out of the ‘70s and ‘80s.” Budding air traffic controllers would struggle to be trained on such outdated gear, he added. Some of the equipment is so dated that the government shops on eBay for replacement parts and some systems still use floppy disks, Duffy explained. He was adamant that trainees should instead work with “state-of-the art equipment.” Duffy then paid tribute to family members of the 67 people who died when a U.S. Army Black Hawk collided with an American Airlines plane in Washington, D.C. on January 29. He said that relatives of some of those victims had attended this afternoon’s press conference, and ”my heart goes out to you. “And I think if you learn anything from what’s happened it’s that if there are foreseeable issues in the airspace, you would expect someone to take action.” Duffy said he was determined to “fix” the system after decades of problems, “to make sure we don’t have families that go through what [those] families have gone through.” However, he said it would take support from Congress to “make it happen,” and to achieve the massive overhaul in three or four years, “we need all of the money upfront.” Duffy is seeking tens of billions of dollars to modernize the air traffic control system. STRESS LEAVE His announcement followed news that stressed-out pilots and air traffic controllers have begged the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to completely overhaul the dangerous – and outdated – air traffic control system. Their plea follows the latest near-disaster, when screens and radios went dark for all air traffic controllers as they lost contact with planes approaching Newark airport. During the April 28 incident, air traffic officials stationed in nearby Philadelphia were unable to connect with planes on radar and through radio for 90 seconds. Yesterday, the FAA announced it has been slowing arrivals and departures at Newark after the system outage. On Wednesday, Newark led the nation with 42 canceled departures and 46 canceled arrivals, according to FlightAware.com But “shell-shocked” controllers told NBC News that outages have become too frequent, and they’re in constant fear of radar systems failing – yet again. “It’s everybody’s worst nightmare,” said Michael Donahue, 53. Donahue was based at Philadelphia International Airport for two decades and, up until February, worked alongside the controllers who handled the flights into Newark. He revealed that controllers had lost radio contact with pilots nearly every week until the recent Newark near-disaster. This glitch was sometimes due to the radar, which tracks the location of planes, suddenly failing to function. Donahue recalled, “People would come out of the room screaming, ‘We’ve lost the frequencies!’ “That’s almost just as scary, because you could see two planes going towards each other and not be able to do anything.” Newark controllers were moved from New York to Philadelphia last summer to address staffing issues. But, problems haven’t faded, Donahue added. “As soon as they got here (Philadelphia), they were having frequency issues, and one day they lost the radar completely,” Donahue said. He described the controllers as being “at breaking point” and “at stress level 10 at the Newark approach.” During each shift they fear “am I gonna lose the radar today? Am I gonna lose the frequencies?” he said. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association confirmed that Newark had “temporarily lost radar and communications with the aircraft under their control, unable to see, hear, or talk to them.” United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby warned last Friday that Newark Airport “cannot handle the number of planes that are scheduled to operate there in the weeks and months ahead.” But the Transportation Secretary said earlier this week that he had a plan to “radically transform” the creaking air traffic control system. He told host Laura Ingraham on Monday night, “We’re going to build a brand-new air traffic control system — from new telecoms, to new radars, to new infrastructure. “We’re bringing on new air traffic controllers. “This has been a problem in the decades coming, and we’re going to fix it.” Duffy, 53, said that officials had “slowed the traffic down at Newark” due to safety concerns. He added, “When you have an incident like this, you want to make sure that people are safe. “And so, you just have less departures out of the airport until we feel comfortable and safe that the system isn’t going to go down again.” Despite his defense of the system, five controllers remain on extended trauma leave after the radar outage, which has worsened staff shortages in Philadelphia. DEADLY CRASH The temporary blackout came months after a mid-air collision between an American Airlines regional jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter in January, which killed 67 people near Reagan Washington National Airport. On Thursday, another Army helicopter forced two flights to abort landings at Reagan. And on Monday, at the San Francisco Airport, there was a collision between two United Airlines planes – fortunately there were no injuries. Last month, two planes carrying multiple members of Congress collided at Washington National Airport, prompting yet another FAA probe.