All Flights Across US Grounded After Aviation System Failure

According to flight tracking website FlightAware, a large computer outage has impacted nearly 1,000 flights across the United States. As a result of this system failure, a lot of travellers have been stranded both within and as well as outside of the country.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported an outage affecting the update of the Notice to Air Missions system (NOTAMs), preventing all flights from being released.

Domestic departures in the US have been halted till 9 am Eastern Time, or 7:30 pm IST, “to allow the agency to validate the integrity of flight and safety information”, the FAA said.

“We are following reports of a problem with the NOTAM system that might affect flights in the US,” said Flight Radar in a Tweet.

We are following reports of a problem with the NOTAM system that might affect flights in the US. Live map at https://t.co/1hk0cAeBPB pic.twitter.com/YlF5I0Ga0t

— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) January 11, 2023

According to the regulator’s website, the FAA system that provides information to pilots and other flight personnel about hazards, changes to airport facilities, and relevant procedures were unable to process updates.

According to the flight tracking website FlightAware, over 1,200 flights have been delayed today within, into, or out of the United States. The exact cause of the delays is currently unknown; it is unknown whether the computer outage was the only factor.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is working to resolve the issue at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), and passengers are advised to check the status of their flight.

“The FAA is working to resolve a national systems issue that is impacting flights early this morning. Please check your flight status and we will share updates as the FAA provides them,” Los Angeles airport tweeted.

The FAA is working to restore its Notice to Air Missions System. We are performing final validation checks and reloading the system now.

Operations across the National Airspace System are affected.

We will provide frequent updates as we make progress.

— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) January 11, 2023

In another update, the Airport said that “The FAA is still working to fully restore the Notice to Air Missions system following an outage. While some functions are beginning to come back online, National Airspace System operations remain limited.”

Furthermore, the FAA has 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.