All flights across US grounded due to FAA computer system outage
Thousands of travelers were delayed after a computer malfunction halted all flights across the United States.
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Travelers look over departure notifications in Chicago (Reuters)
All flights in the United States have been grounded due to a glitch with the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) computer system.
"The FAA is working to restore its Notice to Air Missions System," a statement from the FAA assured.
"We are performing final validation checks and repopulating the system now. Operations across the National Airspace System are affected".
'We will provide frequent updates as we make progress," the statement read.
The FAA is working to restore its Notice to Air Missions System. We are performing final validation checks and reloading the system now.
— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) January 11, 2023
Operations across the National Airspace System are affected.
We will provide frequent updates as we make progress.
The US Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) system for alerting pilots and other flight crew to threats or changes to airport facility services and applicable procedures was not processing new information on Wednesday, according to the civil aviation regulator's website.
The FAA stated in an advisory that its NOTAM (Notice to Air Missions) system had "failed". There was no exact estimate for when it will be back up and running, according to the website, though NOTAMs issued prior to the outage were still available.
According to flight tracking website FlightAware, over 400 aircraft were delayed inside, into, or out of the United States as of Wednesday at 5:31 am ET. It was unclear whether the outage was a factor.
"Technicians are currently working to restore the system," the website illustrated.
A NOTAM is a notice that contains information that is critical to flight operations professionals but is not known long enough in advance to be published in other ways.
Long-haul international flights may require up to 200 pages of information, which may include runway closures, general bird hazard advisories, or low-altitude construction barriers.
Federal officials announced on Tuesday that charter airlines, air tour operators, and plane manufacturers will be required to build thorough methods for recognizing potential safety flaws before accidents occur.
