FAA outage caused by personnel who damaged data file

Passengers pass through Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) on January 11, 2023 in Dallas, Texas. Credit: Getty Images/AFP

By Alan Levin

The computer failure that prompted a halt of all US flight departures was caused when a data file was damaged as a result of a failure to follow government procedures, the Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday.

Unspecified “personnel” were responsible for corrupting the file, which led to the outage of an FAA computer system that sends safety notices to pilots, the agency said in a statement. That triggered the FAA to order a halt to all US departing flights, causing thousands of delays and cancellations Wednesday.

Read | FAA outage highlights fragility of the aviation system

“The system is functioning properly and cancellations today were below 1 per cent,” the agency said.

The conclusions are preliminary, the FAA said.

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