Computer Outage Causes Widespread Flight Disruptions Across the United States
Massive Aviation Disruption
On Tuesday evening, the United States faced one of the largest aviation disruptions in recent history. The world's largest aircraft fleet was grounded for hours due to a cascading outage in a government system, resulting in thousands of flights being delayed or cancelled across the country. The cause of the outage was not immediately clear, and the White House initially stated that there was no evidence of a cyberattack being the source. President Joe Biden directed the Department of Transportation to investigate the incident further.
Dependence on Air Travel and NOTAM system
This incident highlights the significant dependence of the United States, the world's largest economy, on air travel, and how much air travel relies on the outdated computer system called the Notice to Air Missions System (NOTAM). Pilots are required to consult NOTAMs before commencing a flight, which lists any potential impacts on flights such as runway construction or the potential for icing. The NOTAM system used to be telephone-based, with pilots calling dedicated flight service stations for the information, but has since moved online.
Unprecedented Scale of Disruption
The disruption was unprecedented in scale, with nearly 5,000 flights delayed and almost 900 cancelled by around 10 a.m. Longtime aviation insiders could not recall an outage of such magnitude caused by a technology breakdown. Some compared it to the nationwide shutdown of airspace after the terrorist attacks of September 2001.
Concerns about FAA's Technology
Aviation experts have long been concerned about the Federal Aviation Administration's technology, and not just the NOTAM system. Many of the systems are outdated, relying on old mainframe systems that are generally reliable, but are out of date. There has been talk in the aviation industry for years about modernizing the NOTAM system, but the age of the servers used by the FAA is unclear.
Ongoing Investigation
The NOTAM system failed at 8:28 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, preventing new or amended notices from being distributed to pilots. The FAA resorted to a telephone hotline to keep departures flying overnight, but as daytime traffic picked up, it overwhelmed the telephone backup system. The FAA ordered all departing flights grounded early Wednesday morning. Despite the widespread disruption, as of Wednesday morning, the cause of the outage had not been identified, and President Biden stated that he had been briefed by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg who informed him that they were still investigating the cause of the incident.
