Deaf, Dumb and Blind

Speaking of radar outages, here are three letters for you to remember -- FTI. When the next major ATC outage occurs, those are the three letters to listen for -- FTI. It stands for Federal Telecommunications Infrastructure.

Here’s the news for this week from InformationWeek.

”FTI has been in development since 2002. The FAA said it provides a unified network for voice and data communications across all of its operations. The agency insists it's more reliable, and hence safer, than an older system that relied on a patchwork of disparate systems from numerous vendors. “

Here’s the warning from NATCA and PASS.

WHERE FAA SEES ROSES IN NEW TELECOMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM, CONTROLLERS AND TECHNICIANS FEEL THE PAIN OF THORNS

”Despite a rosy picture painted Tuesday by the Federal Aviation Administration, the FAA Telecommunications Infrastructure (FTI) network is unreliable, lacking suitable backups, and continues to be a source of great frustration and deep concern for the FAA technicians and air traffic controllers who must deal with the fallout of the FAA’s decision to cut corners and costs on this project and run it on the razor’s edge despite a lengthy list of failures and outages.“

NATCA and PASS didn’t form that opinion overnight. It came from experience. Bad experiences. A lot of bad experiences.

Don Brown
April 13, 2008