White House proposes overhauling the outdated US air traffic control system in the wake of crashes

The Trump administration proposed a multibillion-dollar overhaul of the U S air traffic control system on Thursday in the wake of contemporary deadly plane crashes and technical failures that have put a spotlight on the outdated grid The plan calls for six new air traffic control centers along with machinery and communications upgrades at all of the nation s air traffic facilities over the next three years explained Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy How much it will all cost wasn t at once revealed We use radar from the s commented Duffy who compared the proposal with upgrading from a flip phone to a smartphone This apparatus is years old that our controllers use to scan the skies and keep airplanes separated from one another The Trump administration wants to add fiber wireless and satellite equipment at more than locations replace radars and increase the number of airports with systems designed to reduce near misses on runways Six new air traffic control centers also would be built under the plan and new hardware and system would be standardized across all air traffic facilities The plan has an aggressive timeline calling on everything to be finished by The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee estimated last week that it might cost billion to overhaul the air traffic control system but that estimate was developed before the Transportation Department revealed the details of its plan Backers of the proposal indicated the amount was just a first step U S Rep Sam Graves of Missouri who heads the House transportation committee called it only a down payment To build the system in three to four years as planned Duffy mentioned Congress must give the Federal Aviation Administration all the money up front Trump announced Thursday that the plan will revolutionize flying The new equipment is unbelievable what it does he disclosed from the Oval Office He began to say it may even alleviate the need for pilots before adding In my opinion you consistently need pilots But you wouldn t even have to have pilots This system is so incredible The aging system and its struggles to handle more than daily flights have come under renewed scrutiny since the midair collision in January between a military helicopter and a commercial airliner that killed people over Washington D C The crash exhibited the need for these upgrades Duffy revealed in front of airline bureaucrats union leaders and family members of those who died in the crash near Reagan National Airport If there are foreseeable issues in the airspace you would expect someone to take actions to save lives Duffy noted This is bold This is going to be challenging but we absolutely can do it he explained Particular of the equipment is so dated that the authorities shops on eBay for replacement parts and several systems still use floppy disks Duffy reported Following the midair crash Trump promised to fix what he called an old broken system and to tackle the nationwide shortage of air traffic controllers while blaming the previous Biden administration for both problems But the weaknesses within the air traffic control system have been highlighted for years in hearings before Congress and establishment reports The struggles to keep up with increasing air traffic has been recognized since the s long before either Trump or Biden took office The Trump administration s overhaul plan will need backing from Congress and enough funding to be more effective than previous amendment efforts during the last three decades Already more than billion has been invested in upgrades since but none have dramatically changed how the system works The Federal Aviation Administration has been working since the mid- s to make upgrades through its NextGen undertaking One of the biggest challenges with a massive upgrade is that the FAA must keep the current system operating while progressing a new system and then find a way to seamlessly switch over That s partly why the agency has pursued more gradual improvements in the past The shortage of controllers and technical breakdowns came to the forefront in fresh weeks when a radar system briefly failed at the Newark New Jersey airport leading to a wave of flight cancellations and delays Without the planned upgrades communicated Thursday those breakdowns will be repeated around the nation Duffy announced Newark has been a prime example of what happens when this old equipment goes down he commented