US blames system upgrade for longest nationwide FAA ground stop since 9/11
Also reported by CBS News, France24, Newsweek, PBS NewsHour, The Hill, Guardian World, Axios, Guardian US, BBC US, BBC World, ABC News, Ars Technica
Summary
A telecommunications system upgrade triggered a nationwide FAA ground stop on Friday after a router flooded the air traffic control network with connection attempts. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said investigators had not determined whether contractor error or faulty equipment caused the problem; officials said they found no evidence of a cyberattack or AI involvement.Key Facts
- Maintenance replaced a router connection from copper to fibre at a remote location.
- The router generated about 1,000 connection attempts every four to five seconds, according to Duffy.
- Disruptions to radar feeds and communications led the FAA to halt air traffic nationwide.
- The Transportation Department identified L3Harris as the contractor responsible for the maintenance.
- Duffy said investigators had not determined whether installation error or a faulty router caused the outage.
- FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said officials found no evidence of a cyberattack or AI involvement.
- The FAA expected 4,000 to 5,000 of Saturday’s 41,000 scheduled flights to be cancelled.
- The FAA expected flight schedules to recover fully by the end of Sunday.
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