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Screenshot of faa.gov: FAA Begins Retiring Decades Old Floppy Disks from Air Traffic Control

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FAA Begins Retiring Decades Old Floppy Disks from Air Traffic Control

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FAA press release announcing the E-IDS system replacing 1980s floppy-disk-based air traffic control information systems at 435 sites by 2028.

What HN thinks

Half the thread worries the floppies are being replaced too slowly, the other half worries they're being replaced at all, and someone suggests Zip disks.

Distrust of rushed, politicized upgrade
Many commenters mock the bombastic 'historic' framing and Trump branding, and worry that a 'lightning speed' overhaul by this administration will cut safety corners or lean on fragile cloud systems.
Legacy hardware is itself a risk
Others argue aging floppies, drives and 1980s-90s computers are becoming impossible to maintain, so replacing them while there is still time is the safer path.
FAA caution can block progress
A former FAA modernization worker says the rigorous safety process has long slowed reasonable change, so safety can also become an obstacle.

Consensus: Most agree the old floppy-based systems need replacing. They split on whether this administration will do it safely, and many think the announcement is mostly PR.

Summarised by Claude from the comment thread 7 days ago.

Points: 85
Comments: 53
Best rank: #3
Posted: 2026-11-06 by pseudolus
Category: Politics & policy

faa air-traffic-control floppy-disks legacy-systems government-it aviation

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