From Ars Technica · · 1m 50s
FAA ditches floppy disks for modern air traffic control
The Federal Aviation Administration is replacing decades-old technology, including floppy disks, with a new system to speed up safety alerts for air traffic controllers.
In brief
The Federal Aviation Administration is replacing decades-old technology, including floppy disks, with a new system to speed up safety alerts for air traffic controllers. The FAA will replace floppy disk-based systems in 435 air traffic control facilities with a modern platform by the end of twenty twenty-eight…
FAA replaces floppy disk systems
The Federal Aviation Administration will stop using floppy disks in air traffic control facilities. The new Enterprise Information Display System will be installed in four hundred thirty-five facilities, replacing systems dating to the nineteen eighties.
Why the upgrade matters
The new system will give air traffic controllers faster access to data needed for crucial safety alerts.
Six years in the making
The FAA has been planning this upgrade for over six years. Then-Acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau told the House Appropriations Committee last year, "No more floppy disks or paper strips."
“No more floppy disks or paper strips.”
What the old systems looked like
One system being replaced, IDS-4, runs on MS-DOS and has been in constant use since the early nineteen nineties.
Problems with legacy systems
A September twenty twenty-six Government Accountability Office report found legacy display systems rely on obsolete technology and interfaces from the nineteen eighties. The systems are cumbersome for controllers to search, retrieve and display information.
How the new system works
E-IDS will give controllers a single platform that pulls data into one view. Instead of searching for information, controllers will have immediate access to everything they need to make split-second decisions about aircraft operations.
Rollout timeline and first sites
The FAA plans to complete the upgrade at four hundred thirty-five sites by the end of twenty twenty-eight.
Contract and broader modernization
In August twenty twenty, the FAA awarded a contract to Leidos to design and develop E-IDS.
Here's the gist
The FAA will replace floppy disk-based systems in 435 air traffic control facilities with a modern platform by the end of twenty twenty-eight, improving controller access to weather and safety data.
