WASHINGTON, DC— The FAA says a corrupted file was the cause of thousands of flight delays on Wednesday.
All domestic flight departures were briefly halted by the FAA early Wednesday morning, which caused over eight thousand delays and well over a thousand cancellations. Investigators now say a corrupted file affected the primary and backup Notice to Air Missions system, which sends vital information to pilots and air traffic controllers.
While there is no evidence the file was the result of a cyber attack, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg [[ boot-edge-edge ]] says he wouldn’t rule it out. Aviation experts say it could take all of Wednesday and Thursday for airlines and airports to catch up with thousands of backed up flights.
Republican Congressman Sam Graves of Missouri, who chairs the House Transportation Committee, said he expects the FAA to provide a full briefing to members of Congress. He said lawmakers will be investigating what went wrong, who’s responsible, and how to prevent the failure in the future.
He expects the Department of Transportation to “do right by” the passengers who were impacted.
