The Trump administration has proposed a significant overhaul of the U.S. air traffic control system, highlighting its reliance on outdated technology, including floppy disks and 1970s-era radar. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy emphasized the urgency of the upgrades in response to recent deadly accidents. The ambitious plan includes constructing six new air traffic control centers, modernizing technologies and communications across the national system, and introducing fiber and satellite technology at thousands of locations. The overhaul aims to be completed by 2028, with a total cost yet to be determined, in light of heightened calls for reform after recent crashes.
"We use radar from the 1970s," said Duffy, who compared the proposal with upgrading from a flip phone to a smartphone. "This technology is 50 years old that our controllers use to scan the skies and keep airplanes separated from one another."
The plan has an aggressive timeline, calling on everything to be finished by 2028 - although Duffy said it may take another year.
Demands to fix the aging system that handles more than 45,000 daily flights have increased since the midair collision in January between an Army helicopter and a commercial airliner that killed 67 people.
The proposal sets out to add fiber, wireless or satellite technology at more than 4,600 locations, replace 618 radars and more than quadruple the number of airports with systems designed to reduce near misses on runways.
#air-traffic-control #technology-upgrades #transportation-safety #government-policy #aviation-reform
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