Over 24 U.S. Lawmakers Demand FAA Suspend New AI Air Traffic Control System Citing Safety Gaps

More than two dozen Democratic lawmakers, led by Rep. April McClain Delaney and including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, called on the Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday to immediately halt its new AI-assisted air traffic control system, warning that the system was deployed without adequate safety testing or controller preparation. The tool, called SMART (Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes, and Trajectories), began operations on September 21 at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport, and Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. The system consolidates 200 different data streams—including flight paths, weather patterns, traffic flow, and controller staffing metrics—into a single visualization platform designed to help predict conflicts and optimize flight routing.