Ground stop proves "we have to get off old network," Duffy says
Summary
A telecommunications outage overloaded routers in the FAA network and led to a nationwide ground stop on Friday, causing thousands of flight cancellations. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the FAA is investigating the outage and called for funding to replace the agency’s aging telecommunications system.Key Facts
- The FAA ordered a nationwide ground stop on Friday after an outage overloaded routers in its telecommunications network.
- The disruption caused thousands of flight cancellations and stranded travelers.
- Officials said contractor L3Harris Technologies had been replacing aging copper lines with fiber connections at a facility in El Dorado, Arkansas, when routers began flooding the network with data.
- Duffy said the FAA is investigating the El Dorado installation and a separate issue at a facility in Amarillo, Texas, where work took place weeks earlier.
- Duffy said more than 70% of copper lines have been replaced with fiber without incident.
- Duffy said the FAA needs $50 billion from Congress to overhaul its telecommunications network and said existing funds do not cover a new telecom system or software.
- President Donald Trump urged Congress to approve funding, saying much of the air traffic control system is 50 years old.
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