FAA faces delays in adopting electronic flight strips for air traffic control

The nationwide ground stop caused by the FAA's NOTAM system failure a year and a half ago highlighted ongoing issues. The agency still uses paper flight strips despite efforts to go electronic since 1983. Transportation researcher Bob Poole notes:

"On July 17, the Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a report on the slow progress of FAA’s program to equip U.S. airport control towers with electronic flight strips (to replace traditional paper flight strips physically handed from one controller to another). The bad news is that instead of only 89 towers scheduled to receive this improvement by 2028, there will now be only 49 towers equipped by 2029."

The original plan set out in 1983 aimed "to equip 150 to 250 airport control towers by 2000." However, budget overruns and limited accomplishments have hindered progress. A recent contract with Lockheed-Martin (now Leidos) intended to equip 89 towers with TFDM by 2028 has been scaled back to 49 towers; only 27 will get the full version including surface management functions while the remaining 22 will receive only electronic flight strips.

Several airports have been cut from these plans, including Honolulu, New Orleans, San Juan, Anchorage, Burbank, Hartford, Ontario, Orange County, and Sacramento.

In comparison, all Nav Canada facilities went electronic fifteen years ago and their solution is used in Australia, Italy, the U.K., and Dubai. While licensing such solutions could be an option for modernization in the U.S., the FAA continues working on its own solution since three years before the Beastie Boys released "Fight For Your Right."