From NPR · · 1m 50s
Old switches and copper lines ground U.S. flights
A four-hour nationwide ground stop paralyzed U.S. aviation on Friday, affecting thousands of flights. Officials blamed outdated 1980s technology for the outage.
In brief
A four-hour nationwide ground stop paralyzed U.S. aviation on Friday, affecting thousands of flights. Officials blamed outdated 1980s technology for the outage. A four-hour nationwide ground stop on Friday grounded thousands of U.S. flights, the second since September eleventh, two thousand one. Officials blamed…
Nationwide ground stop ends after four hours
The Federal Aviation Administration ended a rare nationwide ground stop on Friday that grounded thousands of flights at all U.S. airports. It was one of the biggest disruptions since September eleventh attacks.
Radar and communications systems failed
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said air traffic control facilities experienced intermittent outages of their radar and communications systems beginning earlier in the afternoon on Friday.
Old technology blamed for the failure
Duffy blamed outdated technology for the failures. We have old switches, old routers, nineteen eighties copper lines, he said. It's an old system that went down everywhere and got overloaded.
“We have old switches, old routers. We use 1980s little copper lines. It's an old system that went down and went down everywhere. It got overloaded.”
No evidence of cyber attack
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was zero evidence the issue was due to a cyber attack.
“We have seen zero evidence this is a cyber attack.”
Thousands of flights delayed and canceled
As of nine pm ET, more than eight thousand flights had been delayed Friday and seven thousand had been canceled in the U.S., according to FlightAware.The turmoil followed nearly seven thousand flight delays on Thursday.
Second nationwide ground stop since two thousand one
This was only the second nationwide ground stop since September eleventh, two thousand one.The U.S.
Stranded passengers face holiday travel chaos
At Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Regina Harling waited hours before learning of the nationwide grounding by checking news on her phone.
“I was just thinking to myself that it always feels like it's getting harder to travel than it used to be.”
Senator calls for investigation into outage
Senator Richard Blumenthal released a statement calling for a prompt, penetrating investigation into the causes of Friday's ground stop.
“A widespread communication outage of this scale is highly alarming, a clear danger to national security, as well as safe, convenient travel close to the holidays.”
The key point
A four-hour nationwide ground stop on Friday grounded thousands of U.S. flights, the second since September eleventh, two thousand one. Officials blamed outdated radar and communications systems.
