US's longest aircraft stoppage in 25 years: Why a problem on the ground affected flights thousands of miles away

Detailed summary

President Donald Trump-led administration blamed the disruption on a botched attempt to replace decades-old copper wire communication lines. | World News

An upgrade to an ageing telecommunications network in the United States led to the longest flight stoppage in 25 years, disrupting thousands of flights and leaving passengers stranded across the country beginning Friday, officials said. Federal authorities said airlines that had to divert flights were expected to return to normal operations by late Sunday.

President Donald Trump-led administration blamed the disruption on a botched attempt to replace decades-old copper wire communication lines.

Outdated equipment in the country's air traffic control system was overwhelmed, resulting in “intermittent” communication and radar disruptions, according to officials.

Transportation secretary Sean Duffy said the issue began after L3Harris Technologies Inc replaced old copper wire at a remote location. A router later started flooding the air traffic control system with connection requests.

“Specifically, we had over 1,000 connection attempts every 4 to 5 seconds,” Duffy said. “And what that did was gave us issues with our communication with airplanes, and it also caused some disruption with our radar feeds. And when we see that, your safety is paramount, we shut down the airspace.”

Duffy said on Friday that aircraft already in the air when the halt was ordered landed safely by following “well-known procedures” designed for such situations.

The disruption forced airlines to make fresh arrangements for their operations. With take-offs suspended from Friday afternoon, aircraft and crew members were left out of position, making it difficult to restore flight schedules. Hundreds of thousands of passengers were also stranded on airport tarmacs and inside terminals.

Michael McCormick, a former airspace manager with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), told Associated Press that the incident involved a technical issue known as a rolling outage. Such failures can affect air traffic control centres at different times and without warning.

The FAA ordered a nationwide halt to flights on…

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