Senator Schmitt shares thoughts on Friday's ground stop

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On Friday, the FAA enacted an hours-long ground stop that impacted flights nationwide — including at the Kansas City International Airport.

They cited air traffic control communications problems as the reason for the decision, leaving passengers at KCI facing delays and cancelations as a result.

KSHB 41 News spoke with Senator Eric Schmitt on Saturday to hear his thoughts on the stop — and the cause behind it.

WATCH | Senator Schmitt on Friday's ground stop

Sen. Schmitt shared with us that he found out about the disruptions from news alerts, before addressing the issue of air traffic control modernization — or rather, a lack of modernization.

"I've been talking about this for a while, which is why I've introduced legislation to modernize our air traffic control system," he said. "Effectively, we're really operating on systems that in some instances are 50 years old. You've got radar systems from the 70s that we're still using that you can't make parts for anymore. Technology from the 80s that you're trying to sort of upgrade. It's kind of like trying to plug a 4K television into... a dial-up modem, right?"

Sen. Schmitt went on to say that the ground stop stemmed from a "decades old problem in the making," calling for the country to invest in itself to keep Americans "feeling safe in the skies."

He touched on the Modern Skies Act, saying that he'd like to see money flowing into air traffic control systems and airport infrastructure.

"You know, the events of yesterday... only highlight something that I've been talking about for a while, which is we have an aging infrastructure and technology that needs to be updated and, we should accept the idea that we have, you know, dated architecture here, dated systems... we should demand more and, and that's what the Modern Skies Act is all about," he said. "When we get back there Monday, I'm gonna be pushing for it right away."

Sen. Schmitt provided his take on the theory that the ground stop was caused by a conspiracy on the Trump administration's end.

"I think that's, that's ridiculous... this is decades in the making. This didn't just happen because of yesterday, or even in 2023 when Joe Biden was in office, and we had a ground stoppage," he said. "I'm not playing that game. I don't want this to be political."

WATCH | KCI travelers left scrambling after FAA issued national ground stop