Travelers took FAA outage at PHL "in stride" despite delays
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Operations are returning back to normal at airports across the country following Wednesday's outage, which impacted travelers at Philadelphia International Airport.
All the hustle and bustle at Philadelphia International was put to a halt Wednesday morning.
"I'm hearing they're delayed for at least three hours, which means it'll get me into Phoenix tonight at 8 p.m.," Peg Gillis said.
A nationwide grounds top meant there were no flights anywhere.
"A little bit upset, but I'm relatively calm so take it in stride," Mark Podob, who was traveling to Vegas, said.
The FAA said the ground stop happened because its computer system called the notice to air missions went down, which is the system that sends out real-time flight safety information.
"There could be a ripple effect anytime anything can impact a flight somewhere else, if equipment and crews can't get to somewhere else there could be impact on that flight getting back out," Heather Redfern, of PHL, said.
The system was put back online just before 9 a.m., but the damage was already done.
According to Flight Aware, the temporary ground stop resulted in about 7,000 flight delays nationwide, including 209 at PHL.
Kylie McGowan was stuck in Chicago waiting to get back to Villanova for her spring semester.
"I was waiting in the terminal, just walking around the airport trying to kill time and then got another text that we were delayed, so very unfortunate, but made it, so it's all good," McGowan said.
As always, airport officials say to check with your specific airline to see if you're delayed leaving.
But, it's also important if you're picking someone up.
They say you could be waiting at the airport for a long time to pick someone up from a flight that never left.