ATC failure in Memphis

In rec.aviation.piloting Mxsmanic wrote:
Denny writes:

ATC failed due to commercial phone lines going down, so we need to
replace ATC ????

No, the argument would be along the lines of ATC being fragile and dangerous,
either because it needs more people/money, or because it is outdated and needs
to be replaced with Something New (depending on which ax you are grinding).

I can see us spending 10 billion dollars for a whole new ATC structure
- that still depends on Ma Bell's 1912 phone lines...

Ma Bell built telephone lines to be very robust indeed; its successors are not
so conscientious, unfortunately. In fact, Ma Bell went well beyond that (cf.
AUTOVON).

AUTOVON used ordinary phone lines usually, but not always, dedicated to
the military.

The lines used were, for the most part, routed around major cities to
avoid system destruction in a major attack.

Other than that, there wasn't much special about it.

--
Jim Pennino

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