The air traffic control cuts led to major protests at the start of Trump's last term. Elon Musk's so-called efficiency ministry Doge put its claws into air traffic controllers, assistants and radar technicians to cut costs.
- We can see that flight safety has become worse in the USA, with more incidents and accidents in recent years, states aviation experts Jan Ohlsson.
An incident that could have been potentially catastrophic was when the so-called TRACOM system went down for 90 seconds on April 28, 2025, cutting off radar and radio communications with all aircraft on approach to Newark outside New York, one of the world's busiest airspaces.
It was only by the pilots' use of emergency procedures, such as staying at the last indicated altitude and searching for communications on emergency frequencies, that a major disaster was averted. It later turned out that a fire in an old copper cable was behind the incident. Several of the air traffic controllers took sick leave after the incident. A similar incident occurred just weeks later.
The American air traffic control system is described as outdated, with 50-year-old technology that has been patched and patched. More recently, they have replaced parts of it with fiber cables and more modern equipment, and now they are trying to roll out AI functions that, among other things, will help plan approach routes.
In connection with the cuts, the air traffic authority FAA has been waiting to start using the AI tool Smart (System-wide Management and Re-routing Tool), which began to be added to several airports at the end of September, despite the aviation industry's doubts.
The White House is promoting it as a solution to the air traffic controller shortage in the country. It is described as a cloud-based aid that, among other things, analyzes weather, suggests flight routes and optimizes traffic flows. Just three days before the technical breakdown, it was widely introduced in many places.
But there are risks in relying on automated technology, says Jan Ohlsson.
- You can see more generally in the industry that this technology is resorted to, but when it goes wrong, it becomes very vulnerable. But from what I've been able to see this morning, they themselves don't yet know what went wrong, says Jan Ohlsson.
The authorities have given conflicting answers as to whether SMART had a part in the technical breakdown. While the main track is that new technology overloaded old routers and switches, it is denied that the AI service would have caused this. Even the manufacturer of the system refutes the connection. In any case, the issue must be investigated.
The national ground stop issued by the FAA on Friday prevented all new departures and gave air traffic controllers a chance to manually manage the roughly 3,500 planes already in the air.
Of these, just under 830 were redirected, the vast majority by having to turn back. Close to 160 were directed to a different airport than the planned destination.
The planes that were on their way in on long flights from abroad were "handled one at a time".
- You've done this manually before, so it works, although it's clear that it's a balancing act when it's rush hour and the US has one of the densest traffic systems in the world. It's not easy, but you can still note on the plus account that it worked.
However, the effects of the flight suspension are great. Tens of thousands of travelers are stranded, planes and crews are in the wrong places, working hours are running out.
- This will last for several days, says Jan Ohlsson.
