A problem in the air traffic control communication system forced the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to temporarily halt flights across the United States. Authorities said the measure was taken for safety reasons, while preliminary investigations indicate the cause may have been a single router.
According to Reuters, the device was installed by government contractor L3Harris as part of work to modernize the FAA’s communications network. Authorities are investigating whether the problem came from an installation error or a defect in the device itself.
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy stated that the system failed to respond to the demands of the moment. According to him, the new routers began sending more than 1,000 connection requests every four to five seconds, creating instability in communications between control centers, aircraft and radar systems.
The problems affected 17 of the FAA’s 22 centers in the U.S. Although communications were not completely interrupted, authorities decided to halt flights because they could not immediately identify the source of the defect.
The incident has refocused attention on the aging U.S. air traffic control infrastructure. Some of the equipment being replaced is about 25 years old, while the FAA spends about $1 billion a year maintaining the old copper-wire communications system.
L3Harris said it is cooperating with the FAA to determine the cause of the incident. The company has completed more than 70% of the planned transition from the old network to the fiber-optic system.
Authorities warn that similar problems may recur until the system modernization is completed. The FAA has secured $12.5 billion from Congress to improve infrastructure, while an additional $50 billion has been requested for air traffic control and airports