A corrupt database file was the cause of a computer system outage at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that grounded all domestic flights across the United States – – but still not sure what caused the damage to the database file.
The incident caused mass disruptions and delays for airlines and airports and passengers.
It appears to be related to an issue with the Aviation Mission Alert (NOTAM) system, which provides pilots with real-time information about changes and potential hazards on flight routes. The lack of system availability meant that all domestic flights were temporarily suspended for two hours while the system was restored.
“Safety is always our top priority, and flight safety was the reason for the outage this morning while the affected systems were restored and checked. As normal flight operations resume. has resumed, the FAA continues to assess the cause of the outage,” transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg said at the time.
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Now the FAA – the US government agency that oversees many aspects of the US aviation industry, including air traffic management – has revealed that it was a database issue that caused the disruption.
“The FAA is continuing to look closely to determine the root cause of the Air Mission Notification (NOTAM) system outage. Our preliminary work has traced back to the source of the outage. works against a corrupt database file,” the agency said in a statement.
It remains unclear what happened to corrupt the database file, but according to the FAA, “at this time, there is no evidence of a cyber attack” and the investigation continues.
“The FAA is working hard to further identify the cause of this issue and take all necessary steps to prevent this type of disruption from happening again,” the agency added.
The disruption caused problems for airline passengers, who had delays and cancellations, and President Biden was even notified of the NOTAM system outage.
