(Washington Insider Magazine) Due to a glitch in its computer systems, the Federal Aviation Administration has ordered all domestic flights in the United States to be grounded until 9 a.m. (ET), rule out cyberattack.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has ordered all domestic flights in the United States to remain on the ground until 9 a.m. (Eastern Time), as the system that provides pilots with notices to read before takeoff is experiencing an outage.
The association representing US airlines, Airlines for America, said the outage is “causing significant operational delays,” according to CNN.
The latest data from flight tracking site FlightAware shows that there are more than 4,000 flight delays across the country.
“The FAA is still working to fully restore the Air Mission Alert system following an outage,” the agency said in an update statement.
Departure At 9 a.m.
“The FAA has directed airlines to halt all domestic departures until 9 a.m. Eastern time to allow the agency to validate the integrity of flight and safety information.”
Most of the delays were concentrated along the east coast, but they began to spread to the west.
Incoming international flights to Miami International Airport continued to land, but all departures have been delayed since 6:30 a.m., airport spokesman Greg Chin said.
The FAA said it was working to restore its Air Mission Notification System.
An FAA computer glitch is affecting flights across the country, causing delays and threatening a possible nationwide grounding.
“We are running final validation checks and reloading the system now,” the FAA said. “Operations throughout the National Airspace System will be affected.”
Statement From Agency
The agency said some functions are starting to come back online, but that “National Airspace System operations remain limited.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tweeted that President Joe Biden has been briefed and that “there is no evidence of a cyberattack at this time.”
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a tweet that he is in contact with the FAA and is monitoring the situation.
United Airlines said it had temporarily delayed all domestic flights and would issue an update once it learned more from the FAA.
Before beginning a flight, pilots should refer to NOTAMs, or Notices to Air Missions, which list potential adverse impacts on flights, from runway construction to the possibility of icing.
The system used to be telephone-based, with pilots calling dedicated flight service stations for information, but has now moved online.
There is a possibility of a widespread outage due to the outage. All aircraft must route through the system, including commercial and military flights.
European flights to the US appeared to be largely unaffected. The FAA said it would provide frequent updates as the situation progressed.
This article is authored by Alejandro Gonzalez.
