Former FAA exec sounds alarm on ‘failing’ air traffic system
Newark Liberty Airport has experienced its fourth air traffic control outage in just three weeks, sparking serious concerns over the aging system. David Grizzle, Former Chief Operation Officer for the FAA joined TheStreet to break down what’s behind the repeated disruptions and what it could mean for travelers.
Related: United makes drastic decision amid threat at major airport
Full Video Transcript Below:
DAVID GRIZZLE: Newark is struggling with a failing communication system. Essentially, the FAA is still running the best communication technology of the 1980s. And increasingly, that communication protocol is not compatible with the systems that the telcos are now managing. And these outages, which are unscheduled, are occurring more frequently and in more places.
The problems we’re having right now are fundamentally technology issues. The FAA has been crying out for budget for well over a decade in order to replace the communication system, and in addition to put in some temporary fixes so that even as their system is incompatible with modern telcos, that they would have think of it as converter boxes that would enable this ancient technology that the FAA is running still to be able to communicate on modern telco lines. And so it’s largely a matter of budget. But I will say that most of the technology at the FAA, the communication system consumes labor. It is not labor saving at all. And so it exacerbates the existing controller shortage, which has been at the FAA since at least 2020.
The system is at a breaking point from an efficiency point of view. Our incredibly professional controllers keep the system safe, but they keep it safe at the expense of efficiency. And so what I tell my family is the system is still extremely safe, but you might be very delayed.
#FAA #exec #sounds #alarm #failing #air #traffic #system
