The longest nationwide FAA ground stop since the September 11 attacks was triggered by a routine maintenance error on an aging telecommunications system, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Saturday. The incident halted all air traffic across the United States for several hours, causing massive disruptions for airlines and travelers.
Duffy stated that the disruption originated from a router upgrade performed at a remote facility. The work involved replacing copper wiring with fiber optics. According to the Transportation Department, the contractor responsible for the upgrade, L3Harris, made a mistake that caused the router to flood the air traffic control network with connection attempts.
Contractor Error and System Failure
At a news conference in Washington, DC, Duffy explained that the faulty router generated 1,000 connection attempts every four to five seconds. This surge overwhelmed the system, disrupting radar feeds and communications between air traffic controllers and aircraft. The FAA ordered the ground stop to ensure safety once these critical links were compromised.
Duffy identified L3Harris as the prime contractor tasked with modernizing the FAA’s communications infrastructure. He noted that the company has performed decades of work for the agency. However, he stated that L3Harris “didn’t meet the moment” during this incident.
“What we’re working to determine was whether we had incompetence, meaning was it installer error from L3Harris? Or did they install a faulty router?” Duffy said. He added that the agency has not yet determined the exact nature of the fault but emphasized that accountability will follow.
L3Harris has not yet responded to requests for comment regarding the allegations. Duffy confirmed that the agency is investigating whether the issue stemmed from installer error or defective equipment.
No Cyberattack Involved
Initial concerns that the widespread outage might be the result of a cyberattack were dismissed by US officials. Duffy said that once the work at the remote location was isolated, all systems returned to normal operation. This rapid recovery led officials to rule out malicious activity.
FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford echoed these findings. He stated there was zero evidence of nefarious activity or any involvement of artificial intelligence in the outage. Bedford promised that a root cause analysis would be released to the public once the investigation is complete.
The FAA is now focused on recovering from the logistical chaos. Bedford noted that crews and aircraft are out of position for 12,000 flights that were lost during the stop. Pilots and flight attendants need to be repositioned to reconnect with their schedules.
Looking ahead, the FAA expects to cancel between 4,000 and 5,000 of the 41,000 flights scheduled for Saturday. Bedford said this reduction is necessary to set up a full recovery for the following day. He expressed confidence that the worst of the disruption is behind the industry.
Source: Al Jazeera
