Due to a malfunction in the computer system of the US aviation authority, the Federal Aviation Administration, all flights in the USA were stopped for hours on Wednesday. Now the FAA has announced that it was due to just one file. An insider reports outdated systems.
The FAA experienced a major disruption on Wednesday. The system, which provides pilots and ground crew with important safety information and notifications of disruptions to flight operations, was down, the FAA’s website said.
At first, the cause of the flight cancellations was a great mystery. There was speculation about a large-scale cyber attack, but now the “FAA” has announced: “At this time there is no evidence of a cyber attack. The FAA is working diligently to determine the causes of this issue and to take all necessary steps to prevent such an incident from recurring.”
Curious: The flight experts also mention, almost casually, that the origin of the damage can be traced back to a single “damaged database file”.
Now it is to be examined more closely what the file has done in the live system and also in the backup, reports “CNN”. It should also be clarified whether this could have been a human error in the form of incorrect operation or whether a routine process did not achieve the desired effect.
Technicians worked for hours to fix the problem. The system even had to be restarted, the FAA said via Twitter. The FAA had instructed the airlines on Wednesday (01/11/23) that all domestic flights must be grounded until 9:00 a.m. local time in Washington (3:00 p.m. CET).
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It was downright bad news for travelers in the United States. According to flightaware.com, more than 1,200 flights within, to or from the United States were delayed and around 90 were cancelled. It was initially not clear whether a computer failure was the reason for the disruption.
The disruption caused a system failure that provides pilots and ground staff with important safety information and notifications of disruptions to flight operations. The FAA then temporarily suspended all US domestic flights. Landings were not affected.
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