FAA grounds all U.S. flights days after expanding its AI air traffic system
National ground stops of this kind are exceedingly rare
On November 13, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) halted all domestic and international flights across the United States due to a "temporary telecommunications outage," according to a post on X. This comprehensive aviation disruption occurred just three days after the FAA expanded its Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes and Trajectories (SMART) system, an AI-driven air traffic management system.
The system, which analyzes weather patterns, flight paths, traffic flow, and controller staffing, was deployed nationwide on November 10. Nationwide flight stoppages are rare; the previous one occurred on January 11, 2023, for 90 minutes to resolve an outage in the NOTAM system. The last large-scale grounding was following the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.
The FAA's FAA Telecommunications Infrastructure is managed by L3Harris, a contractor specializing in aerospace and defense.
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