‘It’s Not’: Trump Transportation Secretary on Fox Rejects Elon Musk’s Starlink as ‘Solution’ to Air Traffic Control Issues
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy rejected Elon Musk’s Starlink as the solution to current air traffic controller issues.
Duffy joined Fox’s Sandra Smith and John Roberts on America Reports on Tuesday to discuss concerns about air traffic safety amid a number of plane crashes this year. Duffy said that the administration is working to streamline the process for people to get approved to be trained as air traffic controllers, which he said could previously take years.
Smith asked at one point if Musk’s Starlink could be the “solution” to current issues. Duffy acknowledged Musk’s tech could be “part of the solution,” but it is not the answer.
Musk has earned backlash for suggesting his company should take over a Verizon contract.
“To be clear here, the Verizon communication system to air traffic control is breaking down very rapidly. The FAA assessment is single digit months to catastrophic failure, putting air traveler safety at serious risk,” Musk wrote on X, saying the situation is “extremely dire” and he gave “Starlink terminals” to the FAA at no cost.
Musk had to correct himself later to explain that the “aging” system he’s referring to is L3Harris, which is not run by Verizon.
“Elon Musk has hinted that Starlink is the solution,” Smith told Duffy on Tuesday.
Duffy responded:
“It’s not. It’s part of the solution. There are some terminals, like up in Alaska where it is hard to access fiber wires, it’s mountainous, there are some facilities that Starlink can be helpful, but again we want to make sure we have fiber connected systems in place. And so I think it plays some part of it, but not all of it. I will tell you SpaceX sent me some engineers and other great companies have sent their engineers. We have to move at the speed of business, not at the speed government. They are helping us through the procurement process, the time process. Again, Americans want to make sure they have the best air traffic control system in the world. We are not there right now, but
we can get there with help from the private sector and if Congress gives us money.”
Watch above via Fox News.
