Copper wire replacement caused air traffic control issue that grounded flights across U.S.: White House
Officials said a contractor’s maintenance work flooded routers and triggered communication gaps, prompting the longest nationwide ground stop in 25 years.
- On Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration grounded planes for over four hours—the longest nationwide ground stop in 25 years—after new technology overloaded antiquated air traffic control equipment, causing "intermittent" communications and radar gaps.
- Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said a contractor replacing copper wires with fiber optic lines caused the system overload; he and the White House are pushing for $30 billion more to complete critical infrastructure upgrades.
- The stoppage affected about a quarter of 45,000 daily U.S. flights, with more than 4,100 cancellations. Aviation consultant Andrew Charlton said the "knock-on effect" of the disruption is incredible.
- FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said Saturday that U.S. air travel should be fully recovered by the end of tomorrow, though flights will still experience delays and cancellations throughout the day.
- Modernizing active aviation systems is "incredibly complex and dangerous," aviation consultant Andrew Charlton warned, as officials investigate potential contractor "incompetence" while aging equipment remains a long-term concern.
314 Articles
314 Articles
What Caused the US FAA Ground Stop and How Did a Copper-To-Fibre Switch Disrupt Flight Radar Feeds?
A contractor's work replacing copper telecommunications lines with fibre may have triggered the US Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) ground stop on Friday, 13 November. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said investigators were examining whether contractor error or a faulty router disrupted communications and radar feeds. The exact fault has not been confirmed. The ground stop was lifted after more than four hours, but the disruption carr…
Sydney Morning Herald
An old copper wire in the bush: why the US had to shut down its airspace
Officials have all but ruled out a cyberattack or the involvement of any artificial intelligence systems, as attention turns to America’s outdated air traffic system that still uses floppy disks.
Yakima Herald-Republic
Why a problem on the ground can affect flights thousands of miles away among other issues
Regional U.S. air traffic control centers communicate using a complex network that’s “one of the largest telecommunications systems in the country,” and disruptions like those seen on Friday with an hourslong, nationwide grounding of flights can reverberate widely, according to…
The U.S. Transportation Secretary revealed that the nationwide flight suspensions on Friday were caused by a disruption during an upgrade of copper to fiber optic cables.
Experts identified the cause of the disruption that caused the suspension of air traffic to the United States, there was no sign of foreign interference, said American transport minister Sean Duffy on Saturday. "It's not about the actions of foreign forces," he said at a press conference.
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