Kevin Walsh, a director of IT and cybersecurity at the Government Accountability Office (GAO), told lawmakers today that modernizing the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) decades-old technology is “going to be the work of many years, billions of dollars, and thousands of people.”
Walsh testified to the Senate Subcommittee on Aviation Safety, Operations, and Innovation on findings from his agency’s September report that said 51 of the FAA’s 138 air traffic control (ATC) systems are unsustainable.
“Seventeen of these unsustainable systems are especially concerning,” Walsh testified. “However, FAA doesn’t plan to complete modernization projects for some of these systems for at least 10 years.”
In January 2023, the failure of an FAA computer system led to the first nationwide halt in air travel since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, amid a spate of near-miss incidents involving airliners, which sparked lawmakers concerns of the safety of FAA’s legacy technology.
Walsh told lawmakers today that 29 of the unsustainable systems “have critical operational impacts on the safety and efficiency of the national airspace.”
Walsh said that the FAA had 64 ongoing investments aimed at modernizing the unsustainable systems, but “has been slow to modernize the most critical and at-risk systems.”
“Specifically, when considering age, sustainability ratings, operational impact level, and expected date of modernization for each system, as of May 2024, FAA had 17 systems that were especially concerning,” Walsh said. “The investments intended to modernize these systems were not planned to be completed for at least six years. In some cases, they were not to be completed for at least 10 years. In addition, FAA did not have ongoing investments associated with four of these critical systems.”
Walsh said that the FAA should ensure its investments are organized in “manageable segments.”
“Despite this, flying is safe, but continuing to rely on these legacy systems diminishes the margin of safety and adds stress to the national airspace. To that end, FAA needs to break modernizations into smaller pieces to deliver functionality quicker and improve accountability,” Walsh said. “It’s going to be the work of years and billions of dollars and thousands of people.”
Jason Ambrosi, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, said a major key to solving FAA’s legacy technology challenges is having consistent leadership at the top.
Today, FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker announced he will resign on Jan. 20. Whitaker was appointed by the Senate unanimously for a five-year term in October 2023. His confirmation ended 18 months of the aviation agency being run by acting administrators.
“I’m saddened and surprised to hear of Administrator Whitaker’s decision to step down in January of 2025,” said Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. “I know this: that if you want to be the leader in aviation, you have to be the leader in aviation safety. I think Administrator Whitaker was living by that motto. I hope that the next administrator will live by it as well.”
She added, “The next administrator needs to be ready day one to continue the job of restoring the FAA safety culture and providing real oversight of the aviation sector.”
With the Senate majority flipping over to Republicans in January, committee Ranking Member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, will take over the leadership role on the Commerce committee, but he vowed to continue Chair Cantwell’s oversight of the FAA and its IT modernization.
“The American people deserve an operation that uses its funding wisely, is innovative while ensuring safety, and is also world-leading in reliability,” Sen. Cruz said during the hearing today. “As chairman next year, I intend to focus heavily on the status of the airspace and what changes may be necessary to enhance its efficiency and reliability.”
