ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 For years, aviation experts have warned that the nation\u2019s air traffic control system is outdated and in need of major investment.<\/p>\n
A solution for that is just getting underway at Orlando International Airport.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s where only WFTV anchor Alexa Lorenzo spoke one-on-one with U.S. Sec. of Transportation Sean Duffy. She found out first-hand what\u2019s coming to Central Florida\u2019s largest airport.<\/p>\n
High above the runways at Orlando International, Sec. Duffy saw it for himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou guys need a lot of money to upgrade it, to modernize it, which is what we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Duffy said $40 million of upgrades are coming to our airport. They include new radars to give controllers a better way to track aircraft, new voice switches to improve controller pilot communication, and replacing the paper flight strips with electronic ones \u2014 all by next year.<\/p>\n
Lorenzo asked Duffy, \u201cWhen you hear the word \u2018aging,\u2019 it could make passengers a little nervous. Is our airspace safe with the current system?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a safer airspace than anyone in the world, and air travel is the safest mode of travel,\u201d Duffy answered.<\/p>\n
He added, \u201cYou have to look at the age and understand that if you don\u2019t update it, it will not be as safe as we have it today, and that\u2019s why I\u2019m going to grapple with that problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
Recent incidents, including last year\u2019s deadly mid-air collision in Washington, D.C., and the March 22 runway crash at LaGuardia Airport in New York, have intensified the spotlight on modernization. <\/p>\n
Duffy said while the upgrades underway are significant, a larger challenge remains \u2014 building a new software system from the ground up. He said if Congress approves an additional $10 billion within the next six months, travelers could see a more efficient airspace with fewer delays and cancellations within about four years.<\/p>\n
Lorenzo then posed this question: \u201cThis is high level work \u2014 let\u2019s bring it down to the lay people. What will Betty see when she goes to visit her grandma in Kentucky?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo what I want Betty to see is nothing \u2014 none of the internal workings… not that we\u2019ve gone from copper wires to fiber or analog to digital. She doesn\u2019t feel that,” Duffy responded. He added, \u201cBut what Betty is going to see when she travels, is she\u2019s gonna say, \u2018It was fast, it was easy, it was seamless.\u2019 That\u2019s what I want her experience to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Duffy said that over the next two years, officials will also install new ground radar to digitally track planes on the runway and replace new display systems for controllers.<\/p>\n
TOP STORIES FROM WFTV CHANNEL 9<\/p>\n
\u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 For years, aviation experts have warned that the nation\u2019s air traffic control system is outdated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[634,115,139,141,140,1045],"class_list":["post-218365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-local","tag-news","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}