Air traffic control in the United States still works on Windows 95 and Floppy Disks

Wednesday, acting Administrator of the FAA Chris Rocheleau said The chamber of allocation committee according to which the Federal Air Force Administration plans to replace its old air traffic control systems, which are still based on floppy and computer Windows 95 discs, Tom’s hardware reports. The Agency has issued a request for information to collect proposals from companies willing to face the massive revision of infrastructures.

“The idea is to replace the system. No more floppy or paper stripes records,” said Rocheleau during the hearing of the Committee. The United States Transport Secretary Sean Duffy defined the project “the most important infrastructure project we had in this country for decades”, describing it as a bipartisan priority.

Most of the towers and air traffic control structures in the United States currently operates with the technology that seems frozen in the 20th century, although it is not necessarily a negative thing, when it works. Some controllers currently use strips of paper To keep track of the movements of the aircraft and transfer data between the systems using floppy discs, while their computers perform Microsoft’s Windows 95 operating system, launched in 1995.

As Tom’s hardware observes, the modernization of the system is widely popular. Sheldon Jacobson, professor of the University of Illinois who studied risks in aviation, says the system It works considerably well As is that an update is still critical, according to NPR. The modern sky of the aviation sector coalition has pushed for the modernization of the ATC and recently released an advertisement highlighting obsolete technology.

While vintage systems can have an inadvertent air traffic control protected from widespread interruptions such as the Crowdstrike accident This interrupted modern IT systems globally in 2024, The agency officials say 51 of the 138 FAA systems are unsustainable due to the obsolete function and the lack of spare parts.

Faa is not alone to cling to floppy disk technology. San Francisco train control system still works on dos Uploaded by 5.25 -inch floppy records, with updates not scheduled until 2030 due to budget constraints. Japan also has fought in recent years To modernize government record systems that use floppy records.

If it is not broken?

The modernization of the air traffic control system has engineering challenges that extend well beyond the installation simply of more recent computers. Unlike typical IT updates, ATC systems must maintain continuous operation 24/7, since the closure of the maintenance structures could compromise the safety of aviation.

This Uptime requirement eliminates the possibility of replacement approaches of the traditional system in which the old hardware is exchanged during the scheduled inactivity times. Replacement systems must also meet the security requirements to resist IT attacks. A successful violation of the air traffic control infrastructure could paralyze national aviation networks, with consequent cascade effects that affect transport, trade and emergency services.

Yet not everyone is convinced that the massive planned revision will reach the desired effects. In a NPR report On the question, the analyst of the aviation sector Robert W. Mann Jr. has expressed skepticism on the fact that the new systems will actually materialize.

“This has been Mantra himself in the last 30 years. From their most money. They will build the new system. It will work better, it will work more,” Mann said to NPR. “And we have been doing it for over 30 years and we have achieved the same results.”