USA · updated 1h ago · 3 min read
FAA Halts Flights After Amtrak Crew Cuts Fibre Line Near Philadelphia TRACON
Fiber-optic line cut at New Jersey construction site caused FAA equipment outage across Northeast airports Ground stops halted arrivals at JFK, LaGuardia, Newark, Philadelphia, and Boston, delaying thousands
Whether to foreground cybersecurity threats or accidental cable damage.
11 of 12 outlets skipped it: a GAO warning says FAA systems are vulnerable to spoofing and jamming.
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The Guardian
“A congressional watchdog has warned the systems guiding US aircraft are open to interference and deception”Read the original ↗
Reuters
“Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said an Amtrak construction crew accidentally cut into a fiber line in New Jersey”Read the original ↗
The Guardian expands the outage into a cybersecurity and national-security warning, while most outlets frame it as an accidental fibre cut.
Ground Stops Across East Coast
The United States Federal Aviation Administration halted flights to several busy East Coast airports after it said it had “lost the primary circuit” at Philadelphia TRACON, a facility that controls air traffic into Philadelphia and airports across the busy northeast US airspace. The FAA issued ground stops at John F Kennedy International and LaGuardia in New York, Newark Liberty International in New Jersey, and Boston Logan and Philadelphia International, as 130 world leaders and dozens of ministers arrived in New York for the annual high-level meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said an “An Amtrak construction crew accidentally cut into a fibre line in New Jersey which caused a telecom outage and forced FAA to pause flights in the Northeast,” and he later said flights were resuming into LaGuardia and Philadelphia while ground stops remained in effect at Newark, JFK, and Teterboro. The FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford told reporters the backup fibre had a break and that it could take up to 13 hours to repair, while Reuters said the failed telecommunications circuit and severed fiber-optic cable snarled thousands of flights and forced a halt to incoming flights at major airports in New York, Boston and Philadelphia.R
Delays, Cancellations, and Resumptions
United Airlines said it would waive change fees for impacted travellers and told Al Jazeera that “Flights that had been destined for Newark have either been held at their departure airport or diverted to alternative airports.” FlightAware said more than 1,000 flights had been delayed or cancelled at Newark alone, and Al Jazeera reported that there were nearly 4,000 delayed flights and 500 cancelled throughout the US.
The FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford told reporters that the cut was between the city of New Brunswick, New Jersey, and Newark, New Jersey, and CBC reported that flights were starting to resume at some busy East Coast airports after the accidentally cut cable forced ground stops in New York, Philadelphia and Boston. NBC News reported that the FAA ordered ground stops at Newark Liberty International, Teterboro and Philadelphia before expanding them to both LaGuardia and John F Kennedy International, while USA Today said flights had resumed at LaGuardia and Philadelphia but continued to be paused at Newark, JFK and Teterboro.
Security Warnings and What’s Next
A congressional watchdog warned that systems guiding US aircraft are open to interference and deception, and The Guardian quoted Ron Wyden saying, “The FAA’s failure to require the aviation industry to use secure communications is a major threat to US national security, to our economy and the safety of the flying public.” TThe Guardian said the government accountability office report found the FAA had yet to finish risk assessments or update security documentation covering threats from spoofing, jamming and other attacks on the radio spectrum, and it said the FAA also lacks a real-time system to detect all such threats.T
Reuters reported that Congress awarded $12.5 billion for upgrades last year and said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told Reuters that Congress needed to approve another $17.5 billion to finish the job. RThe New York Times said Bryan Bedford told reporters that “The circuit replacement did not work,” and it reported that more than 270 flights bound for affected airports in the Northeast had been canceled according to FlightAware, while hundreds more had been delayed.