Dept. of Transportation announces plans to build new air traffic control system after decades of problems

[Ocelot II]

3. In two weeks, like everything else.

The ATC system has needed upgrading for decades (at least since before the PATCO strike), but Congress wouldn't fund it. The reason there is even a semi-modern ATC system in the first place is because a couple of airplanes collided over the Grand Canyon in 1956, followed by more collisions and near-misses. This led to an investigation into the very primitive system in use at the time and the passing of the Federal Aviation Act, which gave the FAA jurisdiction over ATC. There have been a lot of technological advances since then but the US system is still way behind what's being done in the EU. They need money and people who know what they're doing. Money might be forthcoming but if the FAA is being run by morons and DOGE I don't expect much improvement.