FAA grounds all US flights amid system outage

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• A system outage caused delays and cancelations of thousands of U.S. flights on Wednesday.
• The FAA said that a corrupted database file likely caused an outage to the system responsible for notifying pilots about real-time flight hazards.
• The agency had to order a ground stop for domestic flights for over an hour and a half, but the effects lasted throughout the day.

Thousands of U.S. flights were impacted again on Wednesday due to a system outage. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) attributed the outage to a corrupted database file.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told The Washington Post on Wednesday that the FAA’s Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system suffered an outage around 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

Officials had to move to a backup system temporarily, but there were concerns about the information’s accuracy. They decided to completely reboot the system at around 5 a.m. on Wednesday.

At 7:21 a.m., airlines were ordered to temporarily halt all domestic departures as the FAA worked on the system, which is responsible for notifying pilots about real-time flight hazards and cautions. At around 9 a.m., the issue was resolved and domestic flights were allowed again.

Still, the effects lasted throughout the day. Flight tracker FlightAware reported over 9,900 delayed flights and another 1,300 canceled by Wednesday night.

Over half the flights from Southwest, American, and United were delayed on Wednesday, while about 40 percent of Delta’s flights were delayed. Cancellations impacted 10 percent of Southwest’s flights, 7 percent of American’s, 4 percent of United’s, and 2 percent of Delta’s.

The airlines said that they will offer travelers a waiver to rebook flights if needed. Those whose flights were canceled or no longer wish to travel can also request refunds.

On Wednesday afternoon, Buttigieg promised that the government will find the issue and “fix it.” By Wednesday night, it was still unclear how long the outage will last.

Delta announced, “While potential for additional delays and cancels continue, Delta expects minimal residual impact, if any, on Thursday.” But other major airlines did not provide any statement on whether there will be continued delays.

On Wednesday night, the agency released a statement attributing the outage to a “damaged database file.” It stated, “The FAA is working diligently to further pinpoint the causes of this issue and take all needed steps to prevent this kind of disruption from happening again.”

Source: The Hill