FAA Must Rethink When Upgrades Are Made After Nationwide Ground Stop: Duffy
Summary
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the FAA may change when it schedules infrastructure upgrades after daytime work at a remote Arkansas facility contributed to a nationwide ground stop on Friday. Investigators are examining router and installation issues, while the FAA has disabled a feature on 69 routers as a precaution.Key Facts
- FAA contractor L3Harris was replacing a copper communications connection with fiber at a remote facility in El Dorado, Arkansas.
- Duffy said the work caused data to flood the FAA network and led the agency to issue a nationwide ground stop.
- The FAA counted about 12,462 flight cancellations, including 9,082 by major airlines, but said not every cancellation was directly caused by the ground stop.
- Investigators are examining why a router in Arkansas broadcast data across the network and why a similar issue occurred in Amarillo, Texas.
- The FAA and L3Harris are investigating, with the FBI offering assistance.
- FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said officials had found no evidence of malicious activity.
- The FAA disabled broadcasting capability on 69 routers across the national airspace system as a precaution.
- A September Government Accountability Office report said the FAA lacked an integrated schedule for its modernization projects and a comprehensive lifecycle cost estimate.
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