AFP
NOS News•
The computer problems that caused domestic air traffic in the US to be serious on Wednesday disturbed, were the result of human error. This is reported by the American aviation authority FAA.
According to the FAA, “personnel who did not follow procedures” damaged a data file. That led to the failure of the Notam system, which is used to provide pilots with important safety information.
A source from the Bloomberg news agency reports that two employees of an outside company are responsible for the problems. They would have made changes to the data. According to the source, the FAA is investigating whether it was an accident or on purpose. Also, the backup system wouldn’t have worked because it was trying to access the same data file.
Thousands of flights affected
Because of the outage, the FAA grounded departing flights in the US for about an hour and a half. That was the first time in more than twenty years. Thousands of flights were canceled or delayed. In the meantime, the system was rebooted. Everything is now functioning properly again.
American media report that the software for the Notam system is thirty years old and will not be updated for six years at the earliest.
