If you’ve looked forward to the soothing monotony of airline announcements (“…your seat cushions are flotation devices…”), spare a thought for what’s happening behind the scenes in America’s airspace. It’s not just coffee pots and armrests seeing their third decade of service. According to U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy—who recently spoke on NBC’s Meet the Press and whose remarks are documented by Newsweek, Business Insider, and The Wrap—the FAA is literally sourcing some replacement parts for its air traffic control equipment from eBay. That’s not a misquote or some bureaucratic allegory. They’re using the same site people use for Beanie Babies and 1990s stereo equipment.

Spare Parts and Safety Nets

Duffy, as quoted by both Newsweek and The Wrap, explained that much of the gear keeping U.S. flights on course is so old that new replacement parts simply don’t exist. “We have to go on eBay and buy parts if one part goes down,” he told NBC’s Kristen Welker, remarking further, “You’re dealing with really old equipment. We’re dealing with copper wires, not fiber, not high-speed fiber.”

It’s the kind of detail that feels like a metaphor gone rogue: high-tech jets above, patched-up electronics below, and somewhere in the middle, a government employee clicking “Buy It Now.” Yet, Duffy was consistent in his reassurance—he told Welker, as reported by Newsweek, that America remains “the safest airspace, for sure,” crediting “multiple redundancies” built into the system for keeping travelers safe even as the actual equipment ages out of regular production runs.

Newark’s Glitch Parade and the National Picture

This eBay revelation comes as the FAA contends with an especially rough stretch at Newark Liberty International Airport, which has suffered back-to-back telecommunications outages. Coverage by Business Insider summarized Duffy’s plan to reduce the number of flights at Newark over the coming weeks out of concern for passenger safety, following delays and operational glitches tied directly to aging infrastructure. On Sunday alone, an offsite guidance facility glitch led to delays for over 170 flights and a reported 45-minute ground stop, as further documented by The Wrap. The FAA explained in a statement referenced by both outlets that Philadelphia’s TRACON—responsible for moving planes in and out of Newark’s airspace—experienced the communication failure.

Beyond hardware woes, the airspace is seeing a parallel problem: a persistent shortage of air traffic controllers. As noted by Newsweek, around 14,000 controllers are currently on duty, but the estimated need is 17,000. Business Insider highlights that to address this, Duffy is proposing to extend the mandatory retirement age from 56 to 61 and is offering a 20% upfront bonus to keep experienced controllers on the job. He put it plainly: “Don’t retire. Keep serving your country.” If nothing else, air traffic control may be the rare workplace where seniority gets rewarded with both a bonus and a plea for just a few more years.

Meanwhile, Newsweek points out that the stir over airspace safety has prompted concern (and some finger-pointing) at the federal level. President Trump—joining in by speakerphone at a recent Duffy press briefing—blamed “ancient infrastructure” and criticized the previous administration’s handling of the issue. Meanwhile, National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy praised the current plan’s ambition, saying, “this is absolutely necessary to ensure safety in our skies,” according to Newsweek. Local officials are also sounding the alarm; Representative Mikie Sherrill described the repeated radar blackouts at Newark as “unacceptable” in comments cited by Newsweek, while Senator Andy Kim called the situation “concerning” and promised to work with the Department of Transportation to tackle the problems.

The ‘Upgrade’ Plan: Shiny New Systems…Eventually

So what’s the fix? Newsweek describes a sweeping modernization: the administration wants to build six new control centers, install fiber-optic and satellite systems, and roll out modern hardware and software to over 4,600 locations. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee puts that price tag at $12.5 billion—though Duffy, as reported by Newsweek, says it’ll likely run higher. The target: get it all done by 2028, assuming Congress signs off on full funding right away.

It’s an ambitious schedule stacked atop a lot of stops and workarounds. Duffy was frank in The Wrap’s interview: “We’re seeing stress on an old network, and it’s time to fix it.” Yet as anyone who’s ever tried to finish even a small home renovation on time and under budget knows, even a four-year upgrade plan can feel wishful. The current patchwork—a mix of safety redundancies, marketplace scavenging, and increasingly stretched personnel—might hold, but every successive outage raises the stakes.

What’s More Absurd: The eBay Detail or the Fact That It’s Not New?

For those who find joy in tracking down obscure pieces of technology, this story blurs the line between surreal and relatable. Knowing your next flight might owe its smooth route to a retired circuit board mailed in from Des Moines makes the whole system feel both impressively resourceful and faintly absurd.

Is this strategic adaptation or simply a long-overdue investment problem—evidence of American ingenuity, or a cautionary tale for public infrastructure management? Maybe both. Necessity, after all, has always been the mother of improvisation—if not necessarily of innovation.

As these repairs and upgrades teeter between the promise of modern fiber and the reality of rural garage auctions, it’s hard not to wonder what else, beyond the FAA, is just one low-bid auction away from a service delay. For now, the skies above remain reliably safe—but the fix, it seems, is part redundancy, part resourcefulness, and a little dash of online shopping luck.