FAA announces new air traffic control system in hopes of taming busy skies

The FAA will embark on an ambitious three-year plan to modernize America’s air traffic control systems and phase out the “outdated technologies that are unable to meet” modern demands, officials said Thursday.

The federal government has been under pressure to address mounting traveler concerns in the wake of fatal crashes, ongoing delays and an embarrassing, recent revelation that the Newark airspace controllers lost all contact with pilots last week after a failure of the copper wiring that transmits radar data from New York to Philadelphia TRACON.

“As the National Airspace System (NAS) users increase, the FAA’s air traffic system is based on outdated technologies that are unable to meet the demands,” the FAA said in a statement on Thursday.

“These outdated systems are showing their age — which leads to delays and inefficiencies. The lack of funding for major investments in key air traffic infrastructure, such as radars, telecommunications, and facilities, is now putting the aviation sector at risk.”

The FAA plans an accelerated, “full replacement” of its current Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) network to an internet protocol, between now and 2028, in hopes of smoothing over and safeguarding communications on busy air traffic control channels, officials said.

Some air traffic voice communications systems are done on “legacy radios” more than 30 years old and “rely on outdated analog technology” and should be replaced by 2027, officials said.

The government also seeks to build six new “state-of-the-art” ATC centers “for the first time since” the 1960s, the FAA said.

The FAA also intends to quickly upgrade surveillance systems as “618 FAA airborne radar systems “exceed their intended lifespan.”

Demands on all of these systems are only growing, the government said.

“The agency needs greater technology investment to better accommodate increasing commercial space and re-entry activity and unmanned aircraft systems activity,” the FAA said.

The flying public has been growing increasingly worried in the wake of several accidents this year.

An American Eagle jet and a military Black Hawk helicopter collided in the air over Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport outside Washington, D.C., killing all 67 people aboard both crafts on Jan. 29.

An air ambulance crashed in northeast Philadelphia on Feb. 1, killing seven people and injuring about two dozen more.

Bering Air Flight 445 crashed on its way from Unalakleet, Alaska, to Nome on Feb. 6, killing all 10 people on board.

And 21 people were injured in February when a plane overturned upon landing at Toronto Pearson International Airport.

This is a developing story. Please check here for updates.