Text-Only Version [1]Go To Full Site [2]NPR > [3]National Flight cancellations and delays pile up after an FAA safety system outage By Emily Olson, Rachel Treisman Updated Wednesday, January 11, 2023 o 2:45 PM EST Thousands of flights are delayed or cancelled after the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a nationwide pause on domestic flight departures on Wednesday. The FAA's system for alerting pilots and airports of real-time hazards, called NOTAM (Notice to Air Missions), went dark around[4] 3:28 a.m. ET, sparking safety concerns. As of noon E.T. more 6,988 flights into, within or out of the country had been delayed, and just over 1,100 have been canceled altogether, according to data from the tracking site FlightAware. While some of the nation's busiest airports like [5]Logan Airport in Boston and [6]DIA in Denver saw a few dozen cancelations each along with 100+ delays, the impact is being felt by travelers at airports across the system including at[7] DCA in Washington, D.C., and[8] AUS in Austin. A total of 21,464 flights were scheduled to depart U.S. airports on Wednesday with a carrying capacity of nearly 2.9 million passengers, [9]Reuters reported, citing data from aviation analytics company Cirium. 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. By 9 a.m. ET, the system had been fully restored and flights began to resume, and airports are urging travelers to check with their airlines for updates if they have travel plans Wednesday. __________________________________________________________________ [10]Twitter __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Related Story: [11]Air travel grounds to a halt Wednesday morning as FAA's computer system goes down __________________________________________________________________ The FAA defines a NOTAM as "a notice containing information essential to personnel concerned with flight operations but not known far enough in advance to be publicized by other means." Pilots might receive NOTAMs about closed runways, large flocks of birds, a plume of volcanic ash, ice on a runway, or lights on tall buildings and towers. Officials pledge to investigate the incident Speaking to reporters during the flight pause, President Biden said he expected to know more on the cause of the outage in a few hours. "They don't know what the cause is," Biden said. "I told [Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg] to report directly to me when they find out." White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tweeted there was "no evidence" of a cyber attack. __________________________________________________________________ Related Story: [12]Southwest promoted five executives just weeks after a disastrous meltdown __________________________________________________________________ Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, attacked the nationwide disruption as "completely unacceptable" and "the latest example of dysfunction within the Department of Transportation." He also alluded to possible congressional action, saying "the administration needs to explain to Congress what happened" and that congress should "enact reforms in this year's FAA reauthorization." FAA has been operating without a permanent leader The national aviation agency has been acting without a permanent head since March, when a Trump appointee, [13]Stephen Dickson, stepped down halfway through his five-year term. President Biden's nominee to lead the FAA, Phillip A. Washington, has yet to receive a Senate confirmation hearing. The CEO of Denver International Airport, Washington has a limited resume in aviation but was noticed for helping to steer the Denver Airport's pandemic recovery, [14]according to the Associated Press. [15]Biden renominated Washington for the role as the new Congress was established last week. In the interim, the FAA is being led by the agency's top safety official, Billy Nolen. __________________________________________________________________ Related Story: [16]Southwest Airlines' holiday chaos could cost the company as much as $825 million __________________________________________________________________ It was just a few weeks ago that the FAA was responding to another barrage of flight delays and cancellations, [17]caused at first by a string of brutal winter storms during the busiest holiday travel season but then by a logistical nightmare at Southwest Airlines. Citing staffing shortages and an outdated computer system, [18]the company canceled 16,700 flights over a 10-day period, leaving passengers, airline staff and mounds of baggage in limbo. Wednesday's ground stop came amidst a slower midweek travel period. [19]Data from the Transportation Security Administration shows 1.6 million people went through airport security checkpoints Wednesday, down from 2.4 million on Dec. 29. Nationwide flight halts are relatively rare It may have even been the first time the FAA grounded all U.S. flights since 9/11, according to unconfirmed comments including from Republican [20]Rep. Byron Donalds. There's been at least one other notable nationwide halt, though that one wasn't for safety reasons: A strike by thousands of air traffic controllers in August 1981 temporarily grounded about 35% of the nation's 14,200 daily commercial flights, [21]per the FAA. __________________________________________________________________ Related Story: [22]Thousands of airline passengers are stranded. Here's what to do if you're one of them __________________________________________________________________ Sept. 11, 2001, was the first time in U.S. aviation history that the FAA put a ground stop on all traffic, which it says it did to prevent any further hijackings. [23]First, just after 9 a.m. ET, it issued a ground stop to all traffic that would encounter New York airspace but hadn't yet departed. Within an hour it had closed all U.S. airspace. That halt lasted for more than a few hours, or even a full day -- it wasn't until 11 a.m. ET on Sept. 13 that [24]national airspace reopened to U.S. air carriers, provided airports had implemented new security measures. Catch up on how the events unfolded via our [25]live digital coverage. Topics * [26]News * [27]Arts & Life * [28]Music [29]Contact Us [30]Terms of Use [31]Permissions [32]Privacy Policy © NPR References 1. https://www.npr.org/1148340708 2. https://text.npr.org/ 3. https://text.npr.org/1003 4. https://www.fly.faa.gov/adv/adv_otherdis.jsp?advn=13&adv_date=01112023&facId=DCC&title=NOTAM+SYSTEM+EQUIPMENT+OUTAGE_FYI&titleDate=01/11/23 5. https://www.wbur.org/news/2023/01/11/boston-logan-delayed-flights-faa-computer-outage 6. https://www.cpr.org/2023/01/11/faa-outage-temporarily-delays-flights-at-dia-and-other-colorado-airports/ 7. https://dcist.com/story/23/01/11/dc-area-airports-recovering-faa-outage/ 8. https://www.kut.org/transportation/2023-01-11/nationwide-faa-system-outage-delays-flights-at-austins-airport 9. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/us-faa-says-flight-personnel-alert-system-not-processing-updates-after-outage-2023-01-11/ 10. https://twitter.com/i/statuses/1613172396571201536 11. https://text.npr.org/1148366700 12. https://text.npr.org/1148161074 13. https://text.npr.org/2022/02/17/1081473389/steve-dickson-resigns-faa-administrator 14. https://text.npr.org/2022/02/17/1081473389/steve-dickson-resigns-faa-administrator 15. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-plans-renominate-stalled-picks-federal-posts-tuesday-source-2023-01-03/ 16. https://text.npr.org/1147445280 17. https://text.npr.org/2022/12/26/1145509202/a-massive-winter-storm-forces-airlines-to-adjust-their-holiday-travel-schedules 18. https://text.npr.org/2022/12/28/1145775020/southwest-airlines-flights-cancellations 19. https://www.tsa.gov/travel/passenger-volumes 20. https://twitter.com/RepDonaldsPress/status/1613181184271327232?s=20&t=41nJmRKIeLZRxFag2PZjSQ 21. https://www.faa.gov/about/history/brief_history 22. https://text.npr.org/1070070608 23. https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/reflecting-september-11th-20-years-later 24. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB165/faa4.pdf 25. https://text.npr.org/live-updates/us-flight-delays-faa-outage 26. https://text.npr.org/1001 27. https://text.npr.org/1008 28. https://text.npr.org/1039 29. https://text.npr.org/614470770 30. https://text.npr.org/179876898 31. https://text.npr.org/179881519 32. https://text.npr.org/179878450