New Delhi:The sudden stoppage of air traffic in America on Friday afternoon increased the problems of thousands of passengers. An order was issued to stop all flights across the country with immediate effect. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) took this decision after a serious technical glitch occurred in the communication system of regional air traffic control (ATC) centers. However, planes that were already in the sky were allowed to land safely. The effect of this decision was visible at the airports of many cities including Boston, where a large number of passengers got stuck. The FAA issued an official notice stating that the ground stop has been imposed keeping in mind the extraordinary circumstances and safety. After this, flight operations at the country's airports were affected. Passengers were asked to wait till further notice.
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that 22 regional air traffic control centers of the country have been affected by the communication glitch. These centers give necessary instructions to the planes flying between different airports. FAA technical experts are working to determine the cause of the malfunction. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the flights were grounded due to a communication failure at air traffic control centers. He said that President Donald Trump had been informed about the situation and the status of all the planes was being monitored. Officials told people there was no need to panic.
FAA system crashes after technical update
CBC News quoted sources as saying that a technical update could be the cause of this glitch. The update was made to the systems of L3Harris, the company that operates the network that connects air traffic control centers. The FAA's telecommunications system then rebooted, but crashed upon restarting. Due to this, air services were affected across the country. A failure in the FAA's main computer system in January 2023 also halted flights across the United States. Earlier, after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the country's air traffic was completely stopped.
30 billion dollars needed to replace old technology
The US government is working on replacing the old technology of air traffic control. Last year, Congress had approved $12.5 billion for this. Fiber optic lines are being laid in place of old copper wires and radio systems of airports are being replaced. According to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, $30 billion more is needed to complete this work. The White House is trying to get approval from Congress for this.