New Delhi: In an unprecedented disruption, over 5,000 flights across the United States were affected by a "technical glitch" with a computer system on Wednesday. Reports from the US said that thousands of flights across the country were grounded due to a glitch with the Federal Aviation Administration's computer system. Normal air traffic operations resumed after several hours of total chaos triggered by the system failure.
More than 5,400 flights were delayed across the United States, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. US Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) said the Notice to Air Missions System (NOTAM) that alerts pilots and other flight personnel about hazards or any changes to airport facility services and relevant procedures was not processing updated information.
The FAA said in a tweet that it was working on restoring its NOTAM. “We are performing final validation checks and reloading the system now,” the FAA said. “Operations across the National Airspace System are affected.”
Later in the day, the FAA tweeted that "normal air traffic operations are resuming gradually across the U.S. following an overnight outage to the Notice to Air Missions system that provides safety info to flight crews." "The ground stop has been lifted. We continue to look into the cause of the initial problem," it said.
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Update 4: The FAA is making progress in restoring its Notice to Air Missions system following an overnight outage. Departures are resuming at @EWRairport and @ATLairport due to air traffic congestion in those areas. We expect departures to resume at other airports at 9 a.m. ET.
— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) January 11, 2023 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">Update 4: The FAA is making progress in restoring its Notice to Air Missions system following an overnight outage. Departures are resuming at @EWRairport and @ATLairport due to air traffic congestion in those areas. We expect departures to resume at other airports at 9 a.m. ET.
— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) January 11, 2023Update 4: The FAA is making progress in restoring its Notice to Air Missions system following an overnight outage. Departures are resuming at @EWRairport and @ATLairport due to air traffic congestion in those areas. We expect departures to resume at other airports at 9 a.m. ET.
— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) January 11, 2023
In an earlier update, the FAA ordered airlines to pause all domestic departures until 9 a.m. Eastern Time to allow the agency to validate the integrity of flight and safety information.
White House says no evidence of cyberattack
The White House, according to the news agency AP, has said that there is no evidence of a cyberattack, but President Joe Biden directed the Department of Transportation to investigate the cause of the disruption. President Joe Biden addressed the FAA issue Wednesday before leaving the White House. He said he had just been briefed by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who told him they still had not identified what went wrong.
“I just spoke to Buttigieg. They don’t know what the cause is. But I was on the phone with him about 10 minutes," Biden said. "I told him to report directly to me when they find out. Air traffic can still land safely, just not take off right now. We don’t know what the cause of it is.”
Buttigieg said in a tweet that he is in touch with the FAA and monitoring the situation. While the FAA has not enforced a grounding of aircraft due to the outage, most airlines have chosen to ground their own plane due to the system's failure.
NOTAMs used to be available through a hotline but that was phased out with the internet. The alerts span from mundane information about construction at airports to urgent flight restrictions or broken equipment. The agency said that it would provide frequent updates as it made progress.
Netizens react
Meanwhile, netizens in the US reacted to the development with many calling it a "cyberattack" by either Russia or China. "Most likely cybered attacked by China," commented one Twitter user. Several others blamed the "obsolete" systems. "Staggering that they do not have layers of redundancy and built in resilience for this. A non-emergency, nationwide ground stop is ridiculous and shameful," wrote another user.
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Gotta love when you book a 6 am flight trying to avoid travel delays, but due to a nationwide FAA system issue the flight is delayed anyway. Going to be a long day :)
— Adele Burk (@BurkAdele) January 11, 2023 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">Gotta love when you book a 6 am flight trying to avoid travel delays, but due to a nationwide FAA system issue the flight is delayed anyway. Going to be a long day :)
— Adele Burk (@BurkAdele) January 11, 2023Gotta love when you book a 6 am flight trying to avoid travel delays, but due to a nationwide FAA system issue the flight is delayed anyway. Going to be a long day :)
— Adele Burk (@BurkAdele) January 11, 2023
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The FAA has grounded all flights due to a computer outage. Sitting on a plane @EWRairport on @UnitedAirlines pic.twitter.com/Rlq5OBmiJd
— Alan Smith (@alan_f_smith) January 11, 2023 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">The FAA has grounded all flights due to a computer outage. Sitting on a plane @EWRairport on @UnitedAirlines pic.twitter.com/Rlq5OBmiJd
— Alan Smith (@alan_f_smith) January 11, 2023The FAA has grounded all flights due to a computer outage. Sitting on a plane @EWRairport on @UnitedAirlines pic.twitter.com/Rlq5OBmiJd
— Alan Smith (@alan_f_smith) January 11, 2023
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A system wide #faa computer failure means all air travel is shut down nationwide. Waiting at LGA.
— Walter Katz (@w_katz1) January 11, 2023 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">A system wide #faa computer failure means all air travel is shut down nationwide. Waiting at LGA.
— Walter Katz (@w_katz1) January 11, 2023A system wide #faa computer failure means all air travel is shut down nationwide. Waiting at LGA.
— Walter Katz (@w_katz1) January 11, 2023
Yet another Twitter user reacted with: "The FAA and Airlines must change their operating systems. The outdated tech does not work with the new culture of flying."
