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#atc

10 posts9 participants1 post today
Public
Catherine Schmidt

#politics #atc #faa #shortages #doge
Aaron Parnas Perspective 5/14/2025

Newark Liberty International Airport faced a near-crisis Monday night when a single air traffic controller, assisted only by a trainee, managed all flight operations for three hours amid severe staffing shortages and ongoing tech outages. Normally requiring 15 personnel, the control tower was stretched to a dangerous limit, highlighting escalating burnout and safety risks as a fifth of the staff took trauma leave.

Public
Bob Young

I can tell you what the real problem is.

"The FAA said in a statement that a telecommunications issue at the Philadelphia TRACON (terminal radar approach control) Area C facility, which guides aircraft in and out of Newark, caused the agency to issue a ground stop."
ABC NEWS, May 11, 2025

I watched Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy being interviewed by Kristen Welker on Meet the Press (NBC) this morning. He said that some of the systems used for air traffic control around the country are 25 to 50 years old.

And here is the real problem:
1) The older electronics technicians who understand analog electronic systems have mostly aged out of the workforce, and
2) For a few decades now, training in analog electronic theory, engineering, and maintenance has been ignored and diminished.

Example: a few years ago, Boeing was facing a critical shortage of qualified electronics technicians for their plant in Everett, WA. I was contracted through Everett Community College to write the curriculum, “Basic Electronics and Troubleshooting” (BET). Boeing’s goal for the course, which we hammered out around one of their conference tables, was that graduates would be able to pass an electronics competency exam. The kicker: I was to create the course, but I was not allowed to see the competency exam! This was an excellent move on Boeing’s part. It meant the classroom instruction, labs, and books had to thoroughly cover the subject. I couldn’t custom tailor the course to feed the students answers to Boeing’s exam. The course was so successful that a second course was developed, “Intermediate Electronics and Troubleshooting” (IET).

But back to Air Traffic Control.

People who don’t have deep experience with electronics systems think modernization is simple: “We’ll move the same functions to a computer-based system.” It is not simple, and people who think it is simple should do a deep-dive into the principles described by Chesterton’s Fence (Google it. If you don’t know about Chesterton’s Fence, you need to).

The requirements for reliability and the changes in vulnerability inherent in the shift to digital systems mandate a deep understanding of how analog electronic systems work, and how they provide reliability and security.

SUMMARY
It isn’t enough to train and hire more Air Traffic Controllers. The Air Traffic Controllers need reliable ATC systems that they can depend on, without interruption. Maintaining those systems is a separate skillset. We must train and hire people who are competent to keep these systems running reliably, and they must also be involved in the development of an effective modernization transition process.

#CallMeIfYouNeedMe #FIFONetworks

Screenshot from Meet the Press. It shows a line of jets on a wet tarmac. There is a quote typed above the aircraft that says, “Our scopes just went black again. If you care about this, contact the airline and try to get some pressure for them to fix this stuff.”
Screenshot of Sean Duffy, Transportation Secretary, on Meet the Press. He is wearing a dark suit, white shirt, and blue tie with small white dots.
#cybersecurity#electronics#modernization
Public *
Rob Ricci

I just learned that this @usenixassociation #ATC will be the last:

> USENIX celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2025. We celebrate decades of innovations, experiments, and gatherings of the advanced computing system community. And in the spirit of our ever-evolving community, field, and industry, we announce the bittersweet conclusion of our longest-running event, the USENIX Annual Technical Conference in July 2025, following USENIX ATC '25.

> Since USENIX’s inception in 1975, it has been a key gathering place for innovators in the advanced computing systems community. The early days of meetings evolved into the two annual conferences, the USENIX Summer and Winter Conferences, which in 1995 merged into the single Annual Technical Conference that has continued to evolve and serve thousands of our constituents for 30 years.

> For the past two decades, as more USENIX conferences have joined the USENIX calendar by focusing on specific topics that grew out of ATC itself, attendance at ATC has steadily decreased to the point where there is no longer a critical mass of researchers and practitioners joining us. Thus, after many years of experiments to adapt this conference to the ever-changing tech landscape and community, the USENIX Board of Directors has made the difficult decision to sunset USENIX ATC.

Public
AI6YR Ben

BBC: Newark air traffic controllers briefly lost contact with planes, union says

"...Air traffic controllers at Newark Liberty International Airport briefly lost communications with planes under their control, "unable to see, hear, or talk to them" last week, a union spokesman has said.

The 28 April incident led to multiple employees being placed on trauma leave, contributing to hundreds of delayed or diverted flights. ..."

bbc.com/news/articles/cwy048rz

People wait in line for a delayed flight at Newark International Airport on 05 May in Newark, New Jersey
www.bbc.comNewark air traffic controllers briefly lost contact with planes, union saysThe incident led to multiple employees being placed on trauma leave, resulting in hundreds of delayed or diverted flights.
#aviation#EWR#ATC
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