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FAA Says It Will Phase Out Floppy Disks From Air Traffic Control by 2028
Ground ^
| 11-06/2026
Posted on 11/06/2026 12:42:22 PM PST by Responsibility2nd
- On Thursday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced the Federal Aviation Administration will replace outdated floppy disks at more than 400 air traffic control facilities with the Enterprise Information Display System by the end of 2028.
- A 2024 Government Accountability Office report found 90 percent of the nation's critical air traffic control infrastructure was due or past due for a technology refresh, amid recent high-profile software meltdowns and operational delays.
- Upgrades have already launched at five sites including Atlantic City International Airport and Nashville International Airport, with the new system replacing four legacy setups dating back to the 1980s across 435 facilities total.
- Duffy is lobbying Congress for an additional $30 billion to modernize the system, on top of the $12.5 billion "down payment" secured in 2025, aiming to reduce repair expenses and improve safety.
- The FAA still faces systemic challenges beyond hardware obsolescence, including a shortage of thousands of air traffic controllers and recent operational outages caused by fiber optic cable cuts affecting service.
TOPICS: Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: floppydisk
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The last floppy disk manufacturer stopped making them in 2011.
When was the last time you used a floppy disk? If you're the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the last time you used a floppy disk was today.
Well, that's soon going to come to an end.
On Thursday, the FAA announced that it would be finally phasing out floppy disks across more than 400 air traffic control locations. The move will see floppy disks completely replaced by 2028.
more...
To: Responsibility2nd
AI is the future.
Pilots will soon be directed from Point A to Point B all by AI instructions.
To: Responsibility2nd
Wonder how many dumpsters in D.C. get dove into?.
3
posted on
11/06/2026 12:47:33 PM PST
by
Vaduz
(NEVER TRUST A DEMOCRAT)
To: Responsibility2nd
4
posted on
11/06/2026 12:48:22 PM PST
by
Texas Eagle
(If it wasn't for double-standards, Liberals would have no standards at all. )
To: Responsibility2nd
Security by obsolescence.
5
posted on
11/06/2026 12:50:13 PM PST
by
yuleeyahoo
(“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!” - the deep-state)
To: Responsibility2nd
What’s the big deal. My Atari 800 still uses 5 1/4 floppy disks.
To: posterchild
After my C-64 quit working (and its replacement LOL) I threw away my 5.25” floppies. Decades later I had pre-teen and teenage kids and would have done anything to have still had those disks. With C-64 emulators I could have found an old 1541 disk drive and got a hardware translator to show my kids what they could do with their minds if they wanted to. (My hobby programming began at age 14, including making the board game Monopoly from scratch, and I made a career out of programming.)
7
posted on
11/06/2026 12:57:07 PM PST
by
Tell It Right
(1 Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
To: Responsibility2nd
A floppy disk is nothing to be ashamed of.
8
posted on
11/06/2026 12:58:15 PM PST
by
PghBaldy
(12/14/12- 930am -Sandy Hook shooting... 12/15/12 - 1030am - Obama team scouts photo-op locations.)
To: Responsibility2nd
Back in 1989 I used to work in the clean room at 3M making 3 1/2” and 5 1/4” floppies. I got paid 12.00 bucks/hour. Assembly line work sucked, but at the time it paid the bills. Man I hated that job.
9
posted on
11/06/2026 12:58:32 PM PST
by
centermass_socrates
(Buy your ammo now, while you can. Get an FRT while you're at it.)
To: Responsibility2nd
Even these: The largest physical size for a standard floppy disk was 8 inches in diameter, introduced by IBM in 1971.?
10
posted on
11/06/2026 1:03:10 PM PST
by
kawhill
(Dywedwch + Add translation Welsh-English dictionary 'Tell Us')
To: PghBaldy
What about premature ejection?
11
posted on
11/06/2026 1:04:07 PM PST
by
Cronos
(Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.)
To: Responsibility2nd
I still have some software floppy disks.
Remember, we had 3.5 and 5.25 inch floppies. So you had to have two floppy drives. It was wild.
12
posted on
11/06/2026 1:06:52 PM PST
by
fwdude
(Why is there a "far/radical right," but damned if they'll admit that there is a far/radical left)
To: All
I had to check to see if this was a spoof from ‘The Bee’.
I haven’t even seen a 3.5” ‘floppy disk’ for 20 years although I might run across one in one of my junk boxes sometime. Haven’t seen a 5 1/4 floppy for at least 30, or an 8” for 35 years.
To: PghBaldy
A floppy disk is nothing to be ashamed of. They've got pills for that.
14
posted on
11/06/2026 1:08:51 PM PST
by
fwdude
(Why is there a "far/radical right," but damned if they'll admit that there is a far/radical left)
To: Responsibility2nd
I was sure it was the Babylon Bee.
15
posted on
11/06/2026 1:09:22 PM PST
by
E. Pluribus Unum
("The EU is the old Soviet Union dressed in Western clothes." --Mikhail Gorbachev)
To: Tell It Right
16
posted on
11/06/2026 1:11:04 PM PST
by
E. Pluribus Unum
("The EU is the old Soviet Union dressed in Western clothes." --Mikhail Gorbachev)
To: Tell It Right
17
posted on
11/06/2026 1:13:31 PM PST
by
E. Pluribus Unum
("The EU is the old Soviet Union dressed in Western clothes." --Mikhail Gorbachev)
To: Responsibility2nd
18
posted on
11/06/2026 1:16:40 PM PST
by
TangoLimaSierra
(To the left, the truth is right-wing violence.)
To: All
If the government wants to upgrade, I have a few IDE mechanical hard drives that still work and I’ll be glad to donate them to the cause. The FAA will be shocked at how much those things can store, and how fast they are compared to Floppies.
To: Responsibility2nd
How are they going to boot their XTs?
20
posted on
11/06/2026 1:21:48 PM PST
by
Fido969
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