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It is likely that in recent months you have seen some news about the End of Windows 10 support. And if you have a computer with that system, you are probably already valuing when to make the leap to Windows 11 or look for an alternative. The idea of keeping an operating system No technical support It is usually interpreted as imprudence. And rightly: it implies losing security patches, compatibility with new applications and threat protection.
However, not everyone seems so worried about staying updated. And the most unexpected example comes from such an important as delicate sector: air traffic control in the United States. There, part of the control towers still depend on technologies that seem taken out of another era. Literally, from the last century.
The data confirmed this week Chris Rocheau, interim administrator of the FAA (the Federal Aviation Administration), in an appearance before the Assignments Committee of the House of Representatives. His intervention was clear: there are towers that still use paper and flopy strips To manage flight coordination. Technologies introduced in the seventies and that today remain operational in some airports in the country.
The public chain NPR has added more firewood to fire: says that computers also work with Windows 95 (yes, Sweden trains They are not the only ones with this system). Although more modern than the floppy disks, it is a system whose extended support ended more than two decades ago. Microsoft stopped updating it December 31, 2001and today does not offer any kind of guarantee or security support for that environment.
Obsolete technology, although functional
Why are they still in use? Because they work. Because they have worked for decades. Air traffic control systems (known ATC) must be kept operational 24 hours a dayseven days a week, and that historical reliability has been precisely the reason why nobody has apparently wanted to take the risk of changing them completely. But that margin is running out.
The new Secretary of Transportation, Sean DuffyHe pointed out that modernizing the system is now a national priority. In his words“It is the most important infrastructure project that the country has had in decades.” An affirmation that coincides with the growing concern within the sector: from controlling unions to industrial groups such as Modern Skies have begun to demand deep reforms.
The Government’s Responsibility Office (GAO) published in March 2025 A report with forceful conclusions: of the 138 systems that make up the FAA infrastructure, 51 were classified as unsustainable and 54 as potentially unsustainable. Many of them have been in service for more than 30 years. Some, more than 60.
The report warns that these platforms are not only vulnerable to technical failures: they are also increasingly difficult to maintain. There are no longer spare parts, the technicians specialized in these architectures are retiring and provisional solutions, such as virtualization, cannot always be applied in such critical environments.
Given this scenario, the Department of Transportation has launched a call Open for private companies to present proposals with new generation technologies. Meanwhile, the system is still underway, but it does so on an increasingly fragile basis. Time will say if this time the leap to a modern infrastructure finally becomes a reality.
Images | Rohde Schwarz | Microsoft | Ashim d’ilva
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