Newsman: A computer glitch at the Federal Aviation Administration caused an outage to its safety system nationwide forced to a ground stop on all domestic departures. Normal operations are resuming, but delays from the ground stop continue.
The FAA has resolved a computer failure , Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg tweeted.
“The nationwide ground stop will be lifted effective immediately. I have directed an after-action process to determine root causes and recommend next steps,” Buttigieg said in the tweet.
FAA has determined that the safety system affected by the overnight outage is fully restored, and the nationwide ground stop will be lifted effective immediately. I have directed an after-action process to determine root causes and recommend next steps.
%u2014 Secretary Pete Buttigieg (@SecretaryPete) January 11, 2023
The FAA said it has lifted a ground stop that brought flights to a virtual standstill. “Normal air traffic operations are resuming gradually across the U.S. following an overnight outage to the Notice to Air Missions system that provides safety info to flight crews. The ground stop has been lifted,” the agency tweeted.
All U.S. departures that had been paused since about 7:30 a.m. ET, has been lifted, the FAA said in a statement at 8:50 a.m. “THE FAA is experiencing an outage that is impacting the update of NOTAMS. All flights are unable to be released at this time,” the FAA said in their initial statement announcing the problem.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed in a tweet that President Joe Biden has been briefed and said “there is no evidence of a cyberattack at this point.”
“I just spoke with [Transportation Secretary Pete] Buttigieg,” President Joe Biden said addressing the media on the South Lawn of the White House. “They don’t know what the cause is. But I was on the phone with him about 10 minutes. I told him report directly to me when they find out. Aircrafts can still land safely, just not take off right now. We don’t know what the cause of it is expected to be able to — in a couple hours we’ll have a good sense of what caused it. And we’ll respond at that time.”
“There is no evidence of a cyberattack at this point, but the President directed DOT to conduct a full investigation into the causes. The FAA will provide regular updates,” Jean-Pierre said on Twitter.
More than 4,314 flights had been delayed within, into or out of the United States when the pause was lifted. Another 700 had been cancelled. A total of 19,621 domestic flights scheduled on Monday.
Departures were resuming at about 8:15 a.m. ET at two of the nation’s busiest hubs — Newark and Atlanta — FAA officials said on Twitter, adding, “We expect departures to resume at other airports at 9 a.m. ET.”
O’Hare International and Midway International airports continue to have a ground stop for all inbound and outbound flights.
“A ground stop for all inbound and outbound flights at O’Hare and Midway International Airports continues to be in place. The CDA, which operates both airports, remains in touch with the FAA and its airline partners to minimize impacts to flight operations and to ensure the safety and security of passengers. Travelers are encouraged to check their flight status before leaving for either airport, and to download their airline’s mobile app for available rebooking options,” according to a statement from the Chicago Department of Aviation.
Average delays for O’Hare are currently about an hour, while Midway delays are averaging about 90 minutes, according to the CDA.
The FAA’s system for alerting pilots and airports of real-time hazards, called NOTAM (Notice to Air Missions), went dark around 3:28 a.m. ET.
“THE FAA is experiencing an outage that is impacting the update of NOTAMS. All flights are unable to be released at this time,” the FAA said in an advisory announcing the issue.
The FAA had opened a hotline to address equipment issues by 5:58 a.m. ET, as some NOTAM functions began to come back on line.
Airports and airlines nationwide were warning on Twitter before the ground stop that delays would be expected.
