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Travelers, former FAA inspector speaks about computer outage that caused flights to halt for hours

Flight information at Hartsfield-Jackson airport

The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday that a damaged database caused a computer outage that forced all flights in the U.S. to halt for hours.

The FAA said there is no evidence of a cyberattack.

Now, Congress is expected to hold hearings to try to speed up the process of replacing an aging system.

“They rely so much on computers, you are always concerned you aren’t going to make it to your destination safely,” said Steven McEntyre. “The lack of communication from the top is just unacceptable, in my opinion.”

The FAA announced it grounded all domestic flights before 7:30 Wednesday morning. It said the pilot notification system called Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) failed.

Nearly 12 hours later, the FAA sent a statement that blamed the glitch on a damaged database file.

Former FAA Inspector Paul Heron said NOTAM alerts pilots to critical flight issues such as weather and runway closures.

“The age of the system, perhaps the capacity of the system, is becoming a little outdated,” said Heron.

ABC News reports an engineer made a mistake during routine maintenance. The outlet reports that mistake would not have caused a nationwide shutdown if NOTAM were up to date.

“That’s a big concern for me as a citizen. I want the best security for this nation at any cost,” said McEntyre.

By 10 p.m. Wednesday, Flight Aware documented 10,000 plus flights delayed across the country. At least 871 of them were at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Nearly 3,000 flights were cancelled and at least 62 of them were in Atlanta.



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