FAA rules out AI and Microsoft: aging routers overloaded the network that grounded US flights
The FAA halted all commercial departures in the US on Friday, November 13, for more than four hours due to a communications problem at the 22 en-route air traffic control centers. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy attributed the failure to overloaded switches and routers delivering inconsistent information, and ruled out links to SMART, the FAA's AI tool, and to the previous day's global Microsoft 365 outage. The government asked Congress for $50 billion in emergency funds to overhaul the system.
In 45 seconds
- The FAA stopped all commercial departures from about 4:00 pm to 8:15 pm Eastern time; only critical flights such as medical ones were exempted.
- Duffy said switches and routers in the telecommunications network became overloaded and delivered inconsistent information; Mullin mentioned security patches installed on old equipment.
- The government ruled out any connection to SMART, the AI platform extended to the 22 centers three days earlier, or to the Microsoft 365 outage.
Read the full story at La Tercera
IASummary generated by artificial intelligence from a story by La Tercera. It may contain errors: the original source prevails.
Comments
Be respectful. Comments reported by several people are hidden until a moderator reviews them.
You do not need an account to read, only to comment. Sign in with a code sent to your email or with your Google account. We only show the name you choose, never your email.