Domestic flight in the United States on Wednesday local time. full of turbulence When the US aviation agency Ordered all domestic flights to be temporarily suspended. Due to a malfunction in the flight safety alert system
On January 11, 2023, according to US local time, CNN news agency reported the incident. The Federal Aviation Administration of the United States (FAA) ordered domestic flights in the United States to be suspended temporarily at 9:00 PM local time in Thailand. After the aviation security alert system encountered a problem. Causing officials to speed up recovery of the system Although shutdown does not take long. But it has a serious impact on all domestic routes by plane.
System failure, over 1,200 flights canceled
The halt caused more than 1,200 domestic flights to be canceled and more than 8,000 delayed, although airlines are now allowed to resume normal operations. But it is expected that air travel during this period will still have problems with delays. Due to the large number of previously canceled and delayed flights Causing the airline to gradually Gradually release these flights as soon as possible.
Latest information from www.flightaware.com aircraft track website Indicates that flights in the United States More than 8,600 flights were delayed and more than 2,700 were canceled.
One male passenger was an affected Southwest Airlines passenger. Said he was due to travel on a 6:00 am flight, so he came to sleep and wait at Denver airport, Colorado, at night. and heard the news at 4:30 a.m. that the FAA banned the flight In addition, he told the atmosphere in the airport that There was no disturbance whatsoever. Even if the people look tired But the overall situation is not a serious problem.
Another passenger who was stranded at the Orlando, Florida airport said he knew regarding it when he got on the plane. After sitting for regarding 10 minutes, I started to notice an abnormality. The captain walked in and out of the cockpit several times. Before notifying passengers to get off the plane which all passengers understand the situation well No one expressed dissatisfaction. Everyone packed their belongings and got out of the plane quickly. while the airline coped well with the situation by quickly distributing snacks and drinking water Including meal coupons for passengers
The incident marks the second time in less than a month that passenger flights in the United States have been hit hard, causing massive cancellations or postponements.
The previous incident occurred in late December last year, but the cause was due to bad weather. As for the cause this time, it was caused by a malfunction in the aviation safety alert system.
Know NOTAM
The Notice To Air Missions (NOTAM) system alerts pilots to issues such as runway closures. defective equipment problem Including various events that may affect aviation safety, such as changing the flight path or change the landing point, etc.
This system is separate from the flight control system. Normally, if there is a problem with the air mission notification system. will affect only that area Doesn’t affect the whole country, but expects the FAA to be confident that no serious incidents will occur during the warning system being installed Therefore ordered to suspend all domestic flights.
Photo credit: rookieflightdispatcher.medium.com
Photo credit: rookieflightdispatcher.medium.com
Biden orders investigation into system outage
US President Joe Biden gave an interview following acknowledging the problem. he discussed with Minister of Transport Which is still unknown why the notification system crashes. but has already ordered that when the cause is found, immediately notify him directly
So far there is no indication of whether this is a cyber attack or not. The incident has led many to call for a review of the FAA’s work, including whether US aviation safety technology Is it too lagging? Is it necessary to overhaul the system?
Another issue that is unclear whether it will become a further problem or not. That is, the FAA currently does not have a chief executive. Because the former executive resigned in March last year, and Philip Washington, whom Biden set to be the latest FAA executive, has not yet been officially appointed. So when problems arise Therefore, there is no one who comes to perform this duty directly.
Source: CNN, FAA
