A crucial computer software system glitch caused delays to more than 1,200 flights within, to or from the United States of America early Wednesday morning. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) alerted officials to a failure in the Notification to Air Missions (NOTAM) system due to a computer failure. According to real-time flight tracker FlightAware, around 6:30 a.m. ET, around 760 flights were grounded, and by 7 a.m., the number of delayed flights had risen to 1,200.
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What is NOTAM?
According to the FAA website, a Notice to Air Missions, or NOTAM, contains information “essential to personnel related to flight operations, but not known sufficiently in advance to be publicized by other means.”
It is an important advisory system that sends real-time alerts and abnormal status from the National Airspace System (NAS) to pilots about hazards and changes in airport facilities and procedures that have stopped processing updated information. Alerts range from mundane information about airport construction to urgent flight restrictions or downed equipment.
However, without it, aircraft risk running into flocks of birds or failing to notice slippery runway conditions.
Why were the flights ‘grounded’?
Multiple US media reports said all flights across the US were “grounded” after the system failure alert from the FAA, which said it was working to restore a system. A NOTAM contains essential information for personnel related to flight operations, but which is not known sufficiently in advance to be published by other means. These can be up to 200 pages long for long-haul international flights and may include items such as runway closures, general bird hazard warnings, or low-altitude construction obstacles.
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However, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a tweet that “there is no evidence of a cyberattack at this time.”
More than 21,000 flights were scheduled to take off in the US today, according to the Associated Press, mostly domestic trips. Up to 1,840 international flights were expected to fly to the US, according to aviation data firm Cirium.
