华盛顿，11月14日 - 政府官员周六表示，自周五以来导致美国航空系统大规模中断近五小时、扰乱超过2万架次航班的故障，可能源于政府承包商L3Harris安装的一台路由器。
WASHINGTON, Nov 14 - A massive, nearly five-hour shutdown of the US aviation system that has disrupted more than 20,000 flights since Friday may have been the fault of a single router installed by government contractor L3Harris, government officials said Saturday.
此次事件是美国老化的空中交通管制电信系统及其在保持旧通信运行的同时更换系统所面临困难的最新痛苦案例。
The incident is the latest painful example of the aging US air traffic control telecom system and the struggles to replace systems while keeping the old communications working.
近年来，联邦航空管理局老化的电信系统曾因光纤被意外切断、文件被误删除以及熔化部件产生的强烈化学气味而发生故障。官员表示，除非该系统得到妥善升级，否则它将再次发生故障。
The FAA's aging telecom systems in recent years have failed after errant fiber cuts, accidental deletion of files and a strong chemical smell caused by a melted component. The system will fail again until it is properly upgraded, officials said.
“这是一个没有应对挑战的联邦航空管理局系统，”交通部长肖恩·达菲周六表示。
"This was an FAA system that didn't meet the moment," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Saturday.
达菲周五表示，L3Harris正在至少一个偏远地点进行例行维护，将电信线路从旧铜线切换到光纤。官员向路透社透露，阿肯色州和德克萨斯州安装的路由器可能都存在问题。
Duffy said on Friday L3Harris was conducting routine maintenance to switch telecommunication lines from old copper wire to fiber at at least one remote location. Officials told Reuters there may have been problems with routers installed in both Arkansas and Texas.
“我们正在努力确定是否存在无能，也就是说，是用户错误还是L3Harris的安装人员错误，亦或是他们安装了一个有故障的路由器？我们尚未确定故障原因，”达菲说。
"We're working to determine whether we had incompetence, meaning was it user error or installer error from L3Harris, or did they install a faulty router? We haven't determined what the fault was," Duffy said.
L3Harris表示，它高度重视此事，并正在“支持联邦航空管理局的调查，以了解导致11月13日美国航空旅行停飞的条件”。L3Harris指出，已完成从旧铜线到光纤系统的计划空域通信转换的70%以上。
L3Harris said it took the issue seriously and was "supporting the FAA in its investigation to understand the conditions that led to the Nov. 13 ground stop of our nation’s air travel." L3 noted it has completed more than 70% of the planned airspace communications conversion from legacy copper wires to a fiber-optic system.
联邦航空管理局每年花费10亿美元维护其旧铜线系统，并正竭力将其替换为更现代化的光纤通信。
The FAA spends $1 billion annually to maintain its old copper wire system and is racing to replace it with more modern fiber-based communications.
“我们需要L3Harris或提供该路由器的任何公司做得更好，”达菲表示，并指出“美国几乎每一个机构都已从铜缆转为光纤，从模拟转为数字”。问题导致美国境内22个FAA区域航管中心中的17个通信过载，促使FAA发布全国停飞令，因为无法查明根本原因。
"We need L3Harris or whoever provided that router to us to do a better job," Duffy said, noting that "virtually every single institution in America has gone from copper to fiber, from analog to digital." The issue began overloading communications at 17 of the FAA's 22 en route centers across the country, which prompted the FAA to issue a nationwide ground stop because it could not identify a root cause.
达菲表示，新路由器开始每隔四到五秒就向其他路由器发送超过1000次连接请求，引发了FAA设施中飞机与雷达的通信问题。
Duffy said the new routers started flooding other routers with over 1,000 connection attempts every four to five seconds, which sparked communications issues with planes and radar at FAA facilities.
贝德福德表示，当FAA失去“这些路由器传输数据的能力”时，不得不采取该行动。FAA仍在努力了解出了什么问题。
Bedford said the FAA had to take the action when it lost "the ability for those routers to communicate data." The FAA is still trying to understand the root cause of what went wrong.
FAA表示，通信并未中断，但导致中心数据不稳定，并未导致中心瘫痪。达菲表示，被更换的路由器已有约25年历史，本应在2006年更换。
The FAA said communications did not go down but led to instability in data at the centers. It did not lead to centers going dark. The routers being replaced are about 25 years old, Duffy said, and were supposed to be replaced in 2006.
并非头一次 小故障导致灾难性后果在美国空中交通管制网络中并非新鲜事。2023年FAA全国停飞令持续90分钟，扰乱了11000个航班，原因是一名政府承包商意外删除了文件。
NOT THE FIRST TIME Small mishaps leading to catastrophic consequences are not new to the US air traffic control network. A 2023 FAA nationwide ground stop that lasted 90 minutes and disrupted 11,000 flights was caused by a government contractor unintentionally deleting files.
这导致了自2001年9月11日劫机袭击以来的首次全国停飞令。
That led to the first nationwide ground stop since the hijacked airplane attacks on September 11, 2001.
周五的故障发生在旅客激增开始周末出行之际。达菲指出时机不佳，称将在较小设施的工作完成后重新评估，以防止未来中断。
Friday's outage hit as a surge in travelers began weekend travel. Noting the poor timing, Duffy said they would reevaluate when work is done at smaller facilities to prevent future disruptions.
FAA从国会获得了125亿美元用于升级其老化严重的空中交通管制和电信系统，达菲还为空中交通管制和机场争取了额外500亿美元。
The FAA got $12.5 billion to upgrade its badly aging air traffic control and telecom system from Congress and Duffy has asked for $50 billion more for air traffic control and airports.
FAA上周才表示，将在2028年底前更换400多个空中交通管制设施中用于天气及其他关键信息的过时软盘。
The FAA only last week said it would replace by the end of 2028 outdated floppy disks used for weather and other critical information at more than 400 air traffic control facilities.
联邦航空管理局依赖的电信系统正在紧急更换之中，同时还在使用数十年前的康柏电脑，以及在eBay上购买的替换零件。
The FAA relies on a telecoms system it is racing to replace as well as decades-old Compaq computers and replacement parts bought on eBay.
九月，费城一处空中交通设施的电路故障，以及新泽西州一支施工队意外切断光纤电缆，导致人口稠密的东北地区数千架航班延误或取消。
In September, thousands of flights across the densely populated Northeast were delayed or canceled due to the dual failures of a circuit at a Philadelphia air traffic facility and the accidental severing of a fiber-optic cable in New Jersey by a construction crew.
联邦航空管理局多年来一直致力于终止一项长期被嘲笑、延续数十年的做法：空中交通管制员使用纸质飞行进程条来追踪飞机。但这项始于2022年的变革，在49个主要机场推广，至少要到2028年才能完成。
The FAA has also been working for years to end a long-ridiculed, decades-old practice of air traffic controllers using paper flight strips to keep track of aircraft. But adopting the change, which started in 2022, at 49 major airports will take until at least 2028.