A Computer Glitch Caused Absolute Mayhem And Grounded Every Single Flight In The US This Morning

If you or a loved one were recently impacted by the clusterfuck caused by Southwest, I apologize in advance for triggering your PTSD…

Early this AM the FAA halted all domestic flights in the US. If that sounds alarming, that's because it is. Gives me major 9/11 vibes.

Luckily it was something a whole lot less awful: a computer glitch. 

CNBC - The FAA said early Wednesday domestic departures would be paused until at least 9 a.m. ET while the agency worked to restore the Notice to Air Missions System, which is responsible for sending messages to all pilots, such as closed runways, hazards and other information.

All flights currently in the air were safe to land, the agency said.

More than 4,500 U.S. flights were delayed as of 9:10 a.m. ET, according to flight-tracker FlightAware, and residual delays could last hours from the backup once the ground stop is lifted.

Delta, United and Southwest said schedule adjustments are likely on Wednesday. Airlines routinely slow down their schedules so airports aren’t overwhelmed by aircraft without a place to park.

Now, I'm no aviation expert, but I have watched PFT as the Ghost of Manhattan.

So I know enough to be dangerous. And an outage of the "Notice to Air Missions System" which is responsible for sending messages to all pilots about things like "closed runways, hazards and other information" seems to be 'not great, Bob.' These are the type of things that make American heroes like Sully land in the East River (also, I'm pretty sure this wasn't the reason).

By 9 AM they had "fixed the glitch." And the DOT pinky promised that it wasn't a cyberattack. But they did vow to investigate just in case.

And honestly, I kinda wish it was a cyberattack. At least there'd be a good reason, we could install the Mcaffe antivirus software and move on with our lives. Instead, we're left to wonder how long until this happens again while the FAA's best and brightest put a ticket in with IT to get this looked at.

PS - This is going to fuck Southwest for weeks, right?

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