some idiot construction crew were digging alongside an Amtrak rail line in New Jersey, and not consulting the city about what was underground... they hit the main fiberoptic line, 400 individual fibers, and stopped flights at New York's three major airports: Newark, JFK and LaGuardia

According to Verizon: a fiber-optic cable running alongside an Amtrak rail line in New Jersey. "Construction contractors working in the area dug up and cut our cable," the company said. 

 By early afternoon, FlightAware counted 681 flights affected. Some departures had resumed at JFK and LaGuardia by 1:30 p.m., while Newark appeared to remain grounded. 

The FAA has not yet said whether the JFK and LaGuardia stops were caused by the same problem. 

 A Philadelphia controller shared the cause of yesterday's equipment outage with waiting pilots.

FAA administrator Brian Bedford told reporters that the primary circuit into that air traffic control facility, which carries in and out data, failed Monday morning. 

Then, the agency discovered that the backup fiber optic line had been severed somewhere between New Brunswick and Newark, New Jersey.

 Amtrak said that the fiber cut did not involve one of its crews. "This incident occurred on New Jersey Transit property and involved a New Jersey Transit contractor. Questions regarding the outage and related work should be directed to New Jersey Transit," a spokesperson said.

https://www.kcra.com/article/faa-ground-stop-newark-philadelphia-jfk-lga/73824525

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