From floppy disks to flight delays: Top lawmaker warns US air system is due for a reboot

A leading lawmaker from the nation's most interconnected air travel state warned that outdated technology - like "floppy disks" - and ongoing air traffic control (ATC) crises at key hubs are compounding the need to overhaul the U.S. air travel system.

Sullivan said that it is not only in his state's interest to see such an overhaul, but that - just as the Philadelphia sector has seen issues as of late - the Anchorage air traffic control hub itself controls individual flight patterns almost anywhere between Chicago and Tokyo.

"We help the entire country when people are traveling from the Lower 48 over to Asia," he said.

"What we need to do is we need to preemptively address challenges before they become tragedies," said Sullivan, who spoke out similarly at a commerce hearing with NTSB and FAA officials earlier this year.

He also cited a February passenger airliner crash in his own state, when a plane went down on Norton Sound's sea ice after leaving Unalakleet for Nome, killing 10.

"What happens, unfortunately, is too often tragedy is what inspires and motivates reform," he said, adding that the Department of Transportation should and likely will, under Secretary Sean Duffy, pivot to "predict[ing] and preempt[ing]."

On a recent tour of the Anchorage center, he spoke to FAA workers and saw how they, like other sectors, rely on 20th-century floppy disks and "strips of paper that are like post-it notes."

"What we don't want, unfortunately - it's happened - is have a big crash and tragedy as the thing that inspires change," he said, placing the blame most recently on the Biden administration, in part, for appearing to prioritize diversity over substantive reforms at USDOT.

He said he spoke with Duffy on Tuesday and predicted "a really big comprehensive reform program" in the weeks and months to come.  

"We have the safest aviation system in the world, but that doesn't happen through magic. That happens through diligence, through upgrading our technology."

While not directly addressing the situation in Newark, Sullivan praised the Trump administration's "outstanding" response to the Unalakleet crash and predicted the Department of Transportation would handle the Newark-Liberty incident in a similarly effective manner.