Human error caused outage that snarled US airports: regulator
Source: AFP
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The computer glitch that forced the temporary suspension last week of US domestic airline departures was caused by a contractor mistakenly deleting files, the country's aviation regulator said Thursday.
Damage to a database file had already been pinpointed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as a probable cause of the January 11 issue, which prompted flight cancellations and delays nationwide.
During the hours-long outage, pilots could not access the system known as Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM), which provides information about hazards, changes to airport facilities and information that can affect flights.
A preliminary report showed that "contract personnel unintentionally deleted files while working to correct synchronization between the live primary database and a backup database," the FAA said on Thursday.
The investigation is continuing, but the agency said it has not yet found any evidence linking the incident to malicious intent or a cyber attack.
The FAA has made the necessary repairs and taken steps to make the NOTAM "more resilient" it said.
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The difficulties sparked fresh criticism on Capitol Hill and throughout Washington of the FAA, which has had no confirmed administrator since March.
The halt also came in the wake of a large-scale US aviation meltdown over the Christmas holiday, as a storm brought unseasonably cold temperatures and travel chaos to the majority of the country.
Source: AFP
