FAA outage halts takeoffs, landings for 90 minutes

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FAA outage overview:

• Who: The Federal Aviation Administration stopped all flight departures Jan. 11 after a computer malfunction with the system that delivers alerts to pilots.
• Why: The FAA stated it did not know the cause of the malfunction but does not believe a cyberattack was the cause.
• Where: The issue stalled flights across the United States.

Just weeks after a major disruption in Southwest Airlines’ flights over the Christmas holidays, infrastructure woes delivered another blow to the airline industry Jan. 11. 

A system operated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) failed, halting flights across the country, Law360 reported. A glitch occurred in the database system that alerts pilots in real time about problems that could affect their flights, such as hazards, weather or birds. The system that failed is called the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system. 

The FAA outage delayed more than 10,000 flights for about 90 minutes, according to NBC News. Some 1,300 flights were canceled.

The FAA says there was no evidence of a cyberattack. 

Thomas Anthony, director of the University of Southern California’s Aviation Safety and Security Program, told NBC news the complexity of the NOTAM system is “mind-boggling.” He says some 13,500 airports contribute information to the system. 

NBC news reported that in 2018, a former board chair of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board claimed NOTAM was “just a bunch of garbage that nobody pays attention to.” Congress passed a bill requiring the FAA to reform the system.

FAA outage ‘highlights a huge vulnerability,’ congressman says

Republican Rep. Sam Graves, who chairs the House transportation committee, said in a statement that the NOTAM failure “highlights a huge vulnerability” in the U.S. air transportation system, adding he wants a full briefing from the FAA to Congress. Graves also said the government should make amends to the customers who were affected, just as airlines are required to do.

The glitch was the second major crippling event in the airline industry in the last month. Over the Christmas holidays, Southwest Airlines canceled more than 15,000 flights when its technology systems failed, sending its flight schedules into chaos.

“Our network is highly complex and the operation of the airline counts on all the pieces, especially aircraft and crews remaining in motion to where they’re planned to go,” Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said in a Dec. 27 video. The disruptions forced some customers to rent vehicles and drive thousands of miles to their destinations over Christmas.

Southwest Airlines now faces a class action lawsuit claiming it failed to promptly refund customers for its canceled flights.

Was your flight delayed due to the FAA outage? Tell us about it in the comments.

Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:

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