The System Keeping 5,000 Airplanes From Colliding Is Older Than You Think

The safest transportation system in human history is running on technology older than many of the people flying today. Every day, the Federal Aviation Administration manages roughly 45,000 flights across the United States. Thousands of aircraft share the sky simultaneously, guided by a vast network of air traffic controllers, radar systems, computers, and communication infrastructure. But much of that infrastructure traces its origins back decades. From the 1956 Grand Canyon disaster that transformed aviation safety, to the IBM computers of the 1970s, the failed billion-dollar modernization projects of the 1990s, and the ambitious NextGen program of the 21st century, this is the story of how America's air traffic control system became both one of the safest and most difficult systems in the world to modernize. Why are some aviation systems still based on technology designed generations ago? Why is replacing them so difficult? And how does a system this old continue to keep thousands of aircraft safely separated every day? This is the hidden story of the technology behind America's skies.