Elon Musk — the look of Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink and present the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — is reportedly getting acceptable to lend a hand to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to assistance amended its basal technological functions.
Speaking exclusively to FOX Business’ Grady Trimble connected Thursday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed he’s enlisting Musk and SpaceX engineers to instrumentality a deeper look astatine the FAA’s alleged "outdated" net and integer programme infrastructures.
"I privation to marque definite that we person immoderate of the brightest minds successful the state travel and look astatine the systems that the FAA uses to marque definite we upgrade, and upgrade to the close exertion and upgrade astatine the close speed," Duffy said.
"So SpaceX, of course, we're going to person SpaceX engineers travel and look astatine the FAA," helium added. "They're, again, launching rockets into space, catching rockets. A Tesla has been launched into space… I privation to perceive their opinions, but it’s not conscionable SpaceX."
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The determination to assistance modernize aviation and aerial postulation power comes successful airy of the deadly Jan. 29 crash betwixt an Army Black Hawk chopper and an American Airlines formation landing astatine Reagan airdrome successful Washington, D.C., which served arsenic "a heartbreaking wake-up telephone that improvements indispensable beryllium made," Duffy antecedently wrote connected X.
Acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau said successful a Wednesday email to employees that the DOGE team would beryllium visiting much FAA facilities — including FAA office — aft Monday stops astatine the Air Traffic Control Command Center and Potomac TRACON successful Warrenton, Virginia, Reuters reported.
Following a sojourn to an FAA installation himself, Duffy expressed his astonishment upon learning that the FAA uses a seemingly "unreliable" net server and adjacent runs immoderate programs connected floppy disks.
"It doesn't work. It'll spell out, truthful their screens mightiness spell down, oregon their communications mightiness spell down. So we person to upgrade our systems truthful they tin really usage the net that everyone uses," Duffy said.
"The FAA is utilizing floppy disks to negociate immoderate of their systems. And again, immoderate Gen Zers mightiness not cognize what a floppy disk is, but if you're aged enough, this is past technology," helium told Trimble. "It costs $0.90 of each dollar to support these truly aged systems."
Despite staffing concerns, the Trump medication precocious moved to laic disconnected hundreds of FAA employees successful an effort to curtail national spending. Some critics fearfulness this could exacerbate the caller slew of commercialized airplane incidents, but Duffy puts the onus connected the deficiency of technological advancements.
He besides added that determination were allegedly much aviation incidents successful January 2024 than January 2025, but "heightened attention" aft the D.C. calamity has garnered "more media attention."
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"For Democrats to accidental we're affecting information by letting 0.8% of the FAA go… who are probationary employees were fto go, and you privation to accidental that's going to interaction aerial postulation successful the state and effort to blasted that connected immoderate of the incidents that person taken spot implicit the people of the past 4 weeks, that's garbage. That's politics," Duffy argued.
"And again, if you privation to constituent the fingers astatine the systems that are being utilized close now, these are the systems that were developed implicit the past 4 years from this administration."
Fox News’ Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
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