Pilots were baffled by the FAA’s decision to ground flights after the NOTAM system crashed

A corrupted file and subsequent system reboot on Wednesday caused all US flights to be grounded for the first time since September 11, 2001, it was revealed.

An unnamed source familiar with Federal Aviation Administration operations told CNN that officials found a corrupted file on its NOTAM (Notice to Air Missions) system and another on the backup system Tuesday afternoon.

Officials then decided they would reboot the entire system during the night hours Tuesday through Wednesday, assuming the reboot – which the source said would take 90 minutes – would be done before the morning rush.

But the system never fully recovered, and the FAA forced all planes to land and remain grounded until 9 p.m.

Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg told a news conference that the decision to ground the planes was made out of “excess of caution”.

It’s now fixed, but the outage caused catastrophic delays across the country; More than 8,000 flights have been delayed and 1,000 cancelled, with more disappointments along the way as airlines and airports scramble to catch up.

Passengers at Miami International Airport grounded all flights for several hours after a “computer failure” on Wednesday, delaying thousands of planes across the United States

The FAA announced Wednesday that around 3:00 p.m. EST problems were beginning to develop with its NOTAM system.

Officials then found the corrupt files and decided to restart the system during the night hours, the unnamed source said, when there are fewer flights.

“They thought they were ahead of the rush,” the source said.

During the restart, pilots reverted to the previous version of the system and called flight services centers for updates. It was enough to keep the night flights going, but as the morning rush ensued, the calls became overwhelming.

FAA officials said at the time that while the system was “starting to come back online,” the issue would take time to resolve.

According to the source, “The system came back up but it didn’t fully come out with the relevant information it needed for a safe flight and it seemed like it was taking longer to do so.”

At that point, he said, the FAA issued a statewide ground stop at 7:30 a.m. EST and halted all domestic departures.

Buttigieg later said he ordered an after-the-fact review, saying there was “no direct evidence or evidence” that the problem was the result of a cyberattack.

The unnamed source now says the problems could all be traced back to the FAA’s aging technology.

“Due to budgetary concerns and budget flexibility, this technical refresh has been postponed,” he said, noting, “I expect they will actually find money for it now.”

“The FAA’s infrastructure is much more than just brick and mortar,” the source added.

Congress is expected to invest in the agency again this year when the five-year FAA Reauthorization Act expires.

Meanwhile, Canada’s NOTAM system also went down without explanation on Wednesday – but the country’s flights continued without delay.

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg speaks to reporters after speaking with the Transportation Research Board in Washington on Wednesday, January 11, 2023

Now US pilots are also voicing their confusion, with some calling the system’s failure “not a big deal”, raising further questions about why flights have been grounded as a result.

They say there are many other ways for pilots to get the alerts and that until recently this was done by calling flight safety centers.

Now they’re asking if the chaos was because there weren’t enough staff to answer the phones in those security centers, or if it was rash judgment by incompetent decision-makers.

Former Congressman Adam Kinzinger, a former Air National Guard lieutenant colonel, tweeted that there were “absolutely no safety concerns.”

“It’s no big deal at all. It’s absolutely no security risk. none.

“It’s nice when it works out, but there are so many other ways to get NOTAM,” he said, fueling questions as to why the flights were grounded.

Ervin Coburn, a private pilot who lives in Washington, told DailyMail.com: “We used to just talk on the phone.

“Right now everything is so digital that once the system goes down I don’t think they have enough staff to handle all the phone calls. They have all the up-to-date information – it’s just a matter of passing it on to the pilots.

“These problems are always due to budget cuts or downsizing.”

In 2021, under Buttigieg’s tenure as Secretary of Transportation, the FAA changed the decades-old name from Notices to Airmen on Notices to Air Missions.

Coburn told DailyMail.com that the FAA was also adding “features” to the system at the same time.

President Biden told reporters the cause of the outage was not yet known, but he had ordered the Department of Transportation to conduct a full investigation. Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg has yet to be seen

“About three years ago the FAA changed the name to announce air missions and added many more responsibilities under that function and now here we are,” he said.

Coburn added that while today’s crash may have been a harmless computer glitch, it sends a signal to America’s enemies about its vulnerability.

“We are in such a digital age now that almost anything could crash a system. You just have to have better skills at walking back and forth – I like technology, but I also like being able to use hardcore book material.

“One would think that the government would be prepared for this.

“The United States has the best airspace system in the world and we still have it, but this is a wake-up call in that when technology isn’t working – whether it’s hacked or cracked, for whatever reason, we should be in on it.” be able to go back to old school systems.

“It looks like we’re not prepared for this and the world is watching.

“This is a wake up call.”

Duane M. Moody, a software engineer in Florida who previously served as an aircraft rescue firefighter for the town of Billings, Montana, told DailyMail.com there are enough controls in place to allow flights to proceed without NOTAMs.

“Air traffic control has to contact the pilots to let them know if there is a problem. If I had a hazard like a broken light on a runway I would notify ATC immediately and they would notify the pilot directly of the hazard before it was even logged as a NOTAM.

“Moreover, NOTAMs are only a guide – a pilot still has the discretion to consider them or not.

“I don’t know what caused the outage but it shouldn’t have affected travel the way it is now.

“Something’s seriously broken here,” he said.

Moody added: “You have to wonder if it’s the bureaucracy or maybe if there was a more critical system related to NOTAM that went down.

“I’m not a big conspiracy theorist, but it could be something we don’t know.

“The last time air traffic was stopped was 9/11, so it’s supposed to be done today because of NOTAMs? It is ridiculous.

“I would rate incompetence about a cyber attack as a likelihood of what went wrong here,” he said.

In a video message this afternoon, Minister Buttigieg said flights had been grounded out of “great caution”.

“Safety is always the top priority, ensuring flight safety was the reason for the ground stop this morning,” he said.

What exactly led to the failure of the system remains unclear.