What is the NOTAM System that caused the suspension of all U.S. air traffic?

Last Updated on 01/12/2023 by てんしょく飯

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has resumed domestic flights that had been temporarily suspended.

The delay was caused by a failure of an aviation information system called NOTAM.

NOTAM transmits critical information, such as runway closures, to pilots in real time.

A critical system at the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) crashed on the night of January 10, 2023, disrupting thousands of flights until the morning of January 11.

This system, called NOTAM (Notice to Air Mission), brought all domestic flights to a halt.

The notifications from this system serve to give pilots important information when other means of communication cannot be made in advance, and to alert them to potential hazards that they should be aware of on future flights. This could include when a runway is closed or when a rocket is returning to Earth.

In other words, NOTAM provides real-time information about anomalies in U.S. airspace, which is different from the FAA’s air traffic control system used for aircraft takeoffs and landings, but both are very important for safety.

These messages can run up to 200 pages on a long international flight, Reuters reports.

The system was renamed from “Notice to Airmen” in December 2021 to “encompass all airmen and missions,” according to the FAA.

The FAA determined that flights could resume by the morning of January 11 on the U.S. East Coast. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg tweeted, “The FAA has determined that safety systems affected by the overnight outage have been fully restored and the nationwide shutdown will be lifted immediately.

Directed them to identify the root cause and take the next steps to address the aftermath.”

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Twitter that “there is no evidence at this time that a cyber attack was the cause,” but President Joe Biden “has directed the Department of Transportation to investigate the cause.”

In comments to Insider, United Airlines said it “may continue to experience delays and cancellations as we work to restore our schedule,” noting that it is offering refunds to passengers who canceled their trips and waiving fees for flight changes.

According to FlightAware, as of 11:00 a.m. EST on January 11 (1:00 a.m. GMT on January 12), more than 6,400 flights were delayed and 1,000 flights were canceled.