by Leonard Berberi
The stop of the “Notam” transmission system caused the cancellation of 1,300 flights and the delay of another 10,000. The Hypothesis: An engineer replaced one file with another
The disruption to flights to the United States on Wednesday morning was allegedly caused by human error during the maintenance period.
This is the first indication that comes from internal investigations by the FAA, the agency of the US Department of Transportation that regulates air traffic, after the twelve-hour stop in the digital dispatch of “Notices to Air Missions” (Notams) bulletins with all important information, pilots must read before take-off.
According to specialist website FlightAware, more than 1,300 flights have been canceled in the United States and another 10,000 have been significantly delayed. The major airlines — American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest, United Airlines — said more than 40 percent of their scheduled flights were canceled or delayed on Wednesday, and normal flight schedules would resume the next day.
The mistake
But what happened? After an initial reconstruction, the IT ban was caused by a file in the FAA database.
In short, there would have been no cyber attack. The same file would then crash both the main and backup systems. A source at ABC explained that an error occurred during routine maintenance: an engineer “replaced one file with another” without realizing he had made a mistake.
At this point the whole system started going haywire without anyone understanding the reasons why. “It was an honest mistake that cost the country millions of dollars,” says an official.
The means
This version of the lawsuits will be confirmed in the next few days.
One of the FAA’s problems is its outdated computer system, which often goes haywire, but to this day it doesn’t cover the whole country, only certain areas.
Also in the background is the fight between the FAA and the US Congress for funding: The US agency has long claimed that it does not have sufficient resources. In 2022, the budget earmarked for the FAA was $18.5 billion, down from 2004 but with more traffic to handle.
Jan 12, 2023 (change Jan 12, 2023 | 11:29 am)
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