So Are We Actually Buying The Story Sean Duffy And The FAA Are Selling Us About Yesterday's Nationwide Grounding?
I am genuinely curious- are we all just accepting the explanation the government gave us yesterday for effectively shutting down American air travel? Because I watched Sean Duffy's press conference, read the FAA's statements, and I have about a thousand questions.
On Friday afternoon, the FAA issued a nationwide ground stop, bringing departures across the country to a screeching halt. Thousands of flights were canceled, and hundreds of thousands of travelers were affected. One of the most extraordinary disruptions to American aviation in modern history. And as for the explanation?
"Old routers and switches got overloaded with data, causing intermittent radar and communication problems."
Giphy Images.For those out there who are uninitiated, and don't know who Sean Duffy is, I might be able to refresh your memory by reminding you he is the same guy who told people to dress up when you fly, and stop being slobs wearing pajamas to the airport (something I wholeheartedly agree with)
Advertisement
and he also flexed about installing pull up bars in airports around the country. No, seriously.
My first question- what exactly overloaded these routers? What changed at precisely 3:36 p.m. on a random Friday that suddenly caused communications systems across the country to malfunction? These systems have apparently been operating on outdated technology for decades. So why yesterday and what was different?
Second question- how does a telecommunications problem cause a nationwide failure of this magnitude? Where are the redundancies and the backup systems? Are we seriously supposed to believe that the most sophisticated aviation system on the planet has vulnerabilities capable of grounding the entire country simultaneously?
And here's where things get particularly interesting as this Southwest pilot so bravely asked himself when he touched down yesterday afternoon and described what he experienced mid flight-
This morning, CBS News reported that an update to the private communications network operated by L3Harris caused a reboot and subsequent outage.
Advertisement
But before that, in yesterday's presser, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin acknowledged that new technology being introduced may have overwhelmed the older infrastructure.
So which is it guys? Did aging equipment spontaneously malfunction, or did somebody introduce an update that broke the system? And whatever the case, who authorized it? And who tested it? And why hasn't the public been given a precise explanation?
Then there's the whole cybersecurity question, which nobody wants to ask, and people are mocking the people who actually are. Officials insist there's no evidence of a cyberattack, although they "openly acknowledge the investigation isn't finished and haven't completely ruled one out."
Okay, then how about we finish investigating before confidently telling everybody what didn't happen?
And my favorite part of this entire thing- within mere hours of this unprecedented shutdown, Duffy was standing in front of cameras demanding $50 BILLION from Congress to modernize the air traffic control system. Funny how quickly an aviation emergency turned into a funding pitch huh?
Advertisement
I'm not suggesting somebody deliberately orchestrated a national aviation shutdown to secure government funding. Butttt I am suggesting that when the government shuts down virtually all domestic departures and immediately turns around asking for $50 billion, we should probably demand something more comprehensive than "our routers got overloaded."
(Sidebar- Sean doubled down (almost literally) on his ask this morning.)
This whole thing is extra fucked when you consider Congress already approved $12.5 billion toward "modernization."
So again, what exactly failed yesterday, and what triggered it? What magically fixed it? And what guarantees are there that the same thing won't happen tomorrow or next week?
I'm not claiming to know what happened yesterday. And I'm not claiming this was one big shakedown. But I'm not not saying that either. I'm saying the government hasn't adequately explained it whatsoever. And considering the extraordinary powers exercised, the economic damage inflicted, and the potentially catastrophic consequences of a genuine communications failure in American airspace, I don't think asking some very basic questions is remotely unreasonable.
But hey, what the fuck do I know? After all, I'm just the crazy Barstool conspiracy guy who gets labeled that for expecting answers before blindly accepting another government explanation.
Giphy Images.p.s.- I'm just going to leave this one here… this was 3 days ago.. "the FAA publicly announced an expansion of its SMART AI airspace-management system on November 10, just three days before the shutdown. Duffy explicitly denied that it caused the outage, explaining that it was not connected to the systems that failed." Again, I'm just the crazy guy though.
Advertisement
p.p.s- at least we have peace of mind knowing that we're in good hands
Advertisement
p.p.p.s.- this is awesome