Mullin says so far no indications of a malicious attack
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered all flights in the United States grounded on Friday afternoon, citing communications problems at the regional air traffic control centers that guide planes between airports across the country. The agency said the suspension was imposed because of extraordinary circumstances and for safety reasons.
Duffy said a communications problem affects all 22 regional air traffic control centers, and he said FAA technicians are investigating it.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said that so far there were no indications that the disruption was a malicious attack against the United States, and he described it as a telecommunications interruption. Mullin said everyone was safe and that families of people currently flying had no reason to worry.
Aviation security expert Steve Arroyo said the problem appeared similar to a regional air traffic control communications disruption in September that complicated hundreds of flights in the Northeast, except that this time it was nationwide. Arroyo, a former United Airlines pilot, said the outage could be connected to the obsolete technology used by air traffic controllers.
If controllers lack that communications capacity — whether because the old copper cables have deteriorated or for any other reason — planes have to be kept on the ground rather than risk flying without a way to communicate with them, Arroyo said.
The U.S. government has been working to modernize the obsolete technology that air traffic controllers depend on since Congress approved 12.500 millones de dólares for the project last year. Old copper cables have been replaced with fiber optic lines, and legacy radio systems are being gradually swapped out at airports around the country.
Significant work remains. Duffy has said another 30.000 millones de dólares will be needed to complete the job, and the White House has begun pressing Congress to approve the funding.
No estimated time has been set for restarting flights. Mullin said investigators would examine whether the disruption is linked to the national deployment of a new artificial intelligence system designed to help identify problems and reroute aircraft. But that system operates from a location near Washington, D.C., and only sends recommendations to the air traffic control centers.
The suspension is the first nationwide grounding since January 2023, when a key FAA computer system failed. Before that, the last national halt came after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Associated Press journalist Mead Gruver contributed to this report from Fort Collins, Colorado.