FAA blames Friday's ground stop on 'equipment issue' during telecoms network upgrade
Friday's nationwide ground stop was declared after an error occurred while a contractor was updating an old Federal Aviation Administration telecommunication line, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Saturday.
asserted
Duffy → blame → line
L3Harris, a long time contractor for the
Federal Aviation Administration, was doing routine maintenance in at least one of FAA's remote locations changing copper wire to fiber, he said.
asserted
he → do → fiber
Duffy said the routers in these facilities were manufactured in 2001.
asserted
routers → say → 2001
These updates have been happening in American institutions for decades, Duffy said.
asserted
Duffy → happen → decades
"Virtually every single institution in America has gone from copper to fiber, from analog to digital," Duffy said.
asserted
Duffy → go → digital
"Just maybe the FAA is the last one to be doing this work because the investments haven't been made, but this is not complicated."
asserted
this → do → work
L3Harris did not immediately respond to NPR's request for comment.
asserted
L3Harris → respond → comment
Duffy said the FAA is still investigating the exact error that started flooding other routers in the air traffic control system.
asserted
that → say → system
"It's pretty straightforward work that we were doing yesterday at, again, a very remote location.
asserted
we → do → location
So what we're working to determine was whether we had incompetence, meaning was it user error, installator error from L3Harris, or did they install a faulty router?
asserted
they → work → router
"
Bryan Bedford, the FAA administrator, who joined Duffy at the briefing said there was no evidence of anything nefarious happening or AI-related issues.
asserted
anything → join → briefing
Thousands of passengers miss flights
Tens of thousands of passengers across the U.S. are still stranded Saturday after a rare ground stop halted all flights.
asserted
stop → miss → flights
The chaos is expected to linger for days.
asserted
chaos → expect → days
The aviation system is back online and slowly returning to normal Saturday morning, but delays and cancellations will continue after yesterday's nationwide ground stop, Duffy said in the press briefing Saturday.
asserted
Duffy → return → briefing
"Based on everything that we're hearing from our airline partners, they believe that they'll be able to have full schedule integrity by the close of business on Sunday," Bedford said.
asserted
Bedford → base → Sunday
Duffy told reporters Friday night: "I think we're going to be back up and operational as we come into the heat of travel during Thanksgiving."
For about four hours on Friday, thousands of flights at U.S. airports were grounded in one of the biggest disruptions of the nation's air travel system since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
asserted
thousands → tell → September
Nearly 25,000 flights were delayed, and over 9,000 were cancelled on Friday, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking site.
uncertain
9,000 → delay → FlightAware
The disruption seeped into Saturday morning with more than 4,000 cancellations recorded.
asserted
cancellations → seep → morning
That's 14% of flights departing the U.S., according to data from Cirium, which tracks aviation analytics.
uncertain
which → depart → analytics
Duffy said Friday that air traffic control facilities had experienced "intermittent" outages of their radar and communications systems beginning earlier in the afternoon.
asserted
facilities → say → afternoon
Duffy blamed "old switches, old routers" for the failures.
asserted
Duffy → blame → failures
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin joined Duffy in the White House briefing room and said there was no evidence the issue was due to an attack.
asserted
issue → join → attack
Flight boards at airports across the country Saturday morning continued to be riddled with red cancelled marks.
asserted
boards → continue → marks
At Tampa International Airport in Florida, people in the main terminal area before security curled up in chairs to grab a wink of sleep.
asserted
people → curl → sleep
On Friday night, a flight board at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in D.C. showed dozens of flights delayed into the early morning hours or cancelled.
asserted
board → show → hours
Passengers Erin and Jake Britt spent half the day at the airport in D.C. on Friday.
asserted
Britt → spend → Friday
Their plane to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. boarded at 3 p.m.
asserted
plane → board → p.m.
By 5:30 p.m., they were getting off the plane — but they were still in D.C.
"
asserted
they → get → D.C.
Overall, our plane was definitely annoyed, but reasonable," Erin Britt said, as the couple left the airport at 8pm.
asserted
couple → say → pm
"People being upset and asking like, 'Well, how are you not prepared for this?'
asserted
you → upset → this
And it was like, 'Well, no one was prepared.'"
She said neither the pilot nor flight attendants had any more information than passengers.
asserted
pilot → prepare → passengers
seem just as in the dark," she said.
asserted
she → seem → dark
The pair decided to cancel their weekend trip, but the night didn't end there.
asserted
night → decide → trip
They spent over nine hours overnight waiting on the JetBlue customer service call line to be reimbursed.
asserted
They → spend → line
"I was setting alarms in 20 minute intervals in case I fell asleep," Erin Britt said.
asserted
Britt → set → intervals
For people who had events or plans over the weekend – the delay added an extra layer of stress.
asserted
delay → have → stress
Joe Romano and Maddie Cabana had a cruise leaving Orlando, Fla. Saturday afternoon.
asserted
Romano → have → cruise
I mean, I travel a lot for work already, so I'm constantly dealing with flight delays," Romano said.
asserted
Romano → mean → delays
"When this happened, I was just like, 'Of course, it always happens to me.'
asserted
it → happen → me
"
"Just rather inconvenient and frustrating," Cabana added, as the pair contemplated checking their bags or going home.
asserted
pair → add → bags
…and 14 more, not listed.
The Aporia
