US FAA says error messages in telecommunications circuit prompted shift to backup on Sunday

The ​head ​of the ‌Federal Aviation Administration ​said a series of ‌error messages in a telecommunications circuit prompted the agency on ‌Sunday to switch to a ‌backup fiber line before an outage snarled thousands of ⁠flights ​along ⁠the East Coast.

The FAA said ⁠its contractor L3Harris advised they wanted ​to switch to the ⁠backup on Sunday to begin troubleshooting ⁠before ​a New Jersey Transit contractor on ⁠Monday accidentally cut the backup fiber ⁠line ⁠near New Brunswick, New Jersey.