FAA computer outage caused hundreds of flight delays nationwide
MIAMI - A nationwide Federal Aviation Administration computer outage early Wednesday morning grounded some flights across the country, including in South Florida, causing hundreds of delays.
The FAA said the problem was with the Notice to Air Missions System. The system alerts pilots and other flight personnel about hazards or changes to airport services, like runways closures or bird warnings.
NOTAMs used to be available through a hotline but that was phased out with the internet. The alerts span from mundane information about construction at airports to urgent flight restrictions or broken equipment.
Around 7:20 a.m., the FAA ordered airlines to pause all domestic departures until 9 a.m. to allow the agency to validate the integrity of flight and safety information.
Just before 9 a.m., the FAA said the ground stop had been lifted and that normal air traffic operations were resuming gradually across the United States. The agency continues to look into the cause of the initial problem.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre posted on Twitter that President Joe Biden had been briefed by the Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg on the FAA system outage. She said there is no evidence of a cyberattack at this point, but the President directed DOT to conduct a full investigation into the causes.
At 9 a.m., there were more than 4,300 delays within, into, or out of the United States, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.com.
For Jeremy Temin, who was on trip from London, said the latest delay at Miami International was the last straw. He said he and his traveling companion started their journey with a four hour delay in London.
"We had to stay the night in Miami, we had to wait another two hours at the passport control and then we waited another two hours just to get our bags back in the hotel. And this morning when we woke up we heard the news so we are going to rent a car and not fly," he said.
At Miami International, nearly three dozen flights were delayed. At Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International, more than two dozen were delayed.
