Wednesday, acting According to Tom’s hardware reports, FAA Administrator Chris Rochelio told the House Special Committee that the Federal Aviation Administration plans to replace its aging air traffic control system, which still relies on floppy discs and Windows 95 computers. The agency has issued an application for information to collect suggestions from companies ready to cope with large -scale infrastructure restoration.
“The whole idea is to change the system, Rochelo said during the committee’s hearing. No more floppy disk or paper straps.” US Transport Secretary Sean Duffy described the project as the “most important infrastructure project in the country for decades, which called it a bilateral priority.”
Most air traffic control towers and facilities across the United States currently work with technology that appear frozen in the 20th century, though it is not necessary to be a bad thing – when it works. Some controllers currently use paper stripes for aircraft movements and data transfer between the system using floppy disks, while their computer operates Microsoft’s Windows 95 operating systems, which began in 1995.
As Tom’s hardware notes are, modernizing this system is widely popular. According to the NPR, Sheldon Jacobson, a professor at the University of Illinois, says the system works significantly and it also works well, but the upgrade is still important. The Aviation Industry Alliance is pushing for modern sky ATC modernization and recently released an advertisement that highlights old technology.
Although the Vintage System has inadvertently preserved a massive air traffic control in the global computer system, such as a massive air traffic control in 2024, agency officials say 51 of the FAA’s 138 systems are due to lack of outdated performance.
The FAA floppy disk is not alone in sticking to technology. San Francisco’s train control system still operates on a dose full of 5.25 -inch floppy disks, with budget barriers not expected to be upgraded by 2030. Japan has also struggled to modernize the official record system in recent years that use floppy disks.
If it’s not broken?
Modifting the air traffic control system offers the challenge of engineering, which spreads far more than installing new computers. Unlike ordinary IT upgrades, the ATC system must maintain 24/7 operations, as shutting down the facilities for recovery can compromise with aviation protection.
The need for this up -time eliminates the possibility of traditional system change methods, where old hardware is replaced during the scheduled time. The alternative system will also have to meet the security requirements to resist cybertics. A successful violation of air traffic control infrastructure can paralyze national aviation networks, which in turn affects the effects that affect transportation, trade and emergency services.
And yet not everyone is sure that the planned large -scale over hall will achieve the desired effects. In a report by the NPR regarding the issue, the aviation industry analyst Robert W. Junior expressed doubts about whether the new system was really. Will come into action.
“This has been the same mantra for the last 30 years. Give them more money. He will create a new system. It will work better, will work hard,” he told the NPR. “And we have been doing this for 30 years now, and we have achieved the same results.”
