The FAA is finally ditching floppy disks
It’s the year 2026 and the Federal Aviation Administration is still running critical pieces of American airspace on 3.5-inch magnetic floppy disks.
But those technology artifacts could be headed for the dustbin after Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced an effort to ditch floppy disks in favor of a new digital system.
Duffy announced Thursday that the FAA is rolling out the Enterprise – Information Display System (E-IDS) to replace four legacy setups across more than 400 air traffic control facilities. E-IDS aggregates real-time weather alerts, equipment outages, restricted airspace changes, and pilot reports onto a modern digital dashboard, replacing manual workflows and archaic physical storage media.
Upgrades have already kicked off at five sites — including control hubs in Atlantic City, Nashville, Rochester, Atlanta, and Salt Lake City — with a targeted rollout across 435 facilities by the end of 2028.
“Good news America: floppy disks are out, 21st century...
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