WASHINGTON: A key US pilot messaging system was experiencing a short lived outage, which may result in flight delays on Sunday, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated late on Saturday (Feb 1).
The Federal Aviation Administration is working to revive the “Discover to Air Mission” or NOTAM system, Duffy stated on X.
“There may be at the moment no affect to the Nationwide Airspace System as a result of a backup system is in place,” Duffy stated. “FAA has arrange a hotline to speak with aviation stakeholders and can ship notices each half-hour with updates on the system’s standing.”
Duffy stated the FAA “activated its contingency system to complement and help preflight briefings and proceed flight operations … We’re investigating the foundation trigger and we are going to present updates”.
He stated passengers ought to verify with their carriers in regards to the standing of flights on Sunday, including “there could also be some residual delays tomorrow morning”.
A January 2023 NOTAM outage led to the primary nationwide US groundstop since 2001, disrupting greater than 11,000 flights.
The NOTAM system supplies pilots, flight crews and different customers of US airspace with crucial security notices. It may embody objects like taxiway lights being out at an airport, close by parachute exercise or a particular runway being closed for development.
A Southwest Airways spokesperson stated the provider didn’t have any measurable delays late on Saturday “and we now have folks and processes in place if the state of affairs continues into tomorrow”.
Delta Air Strains and United Airways stated they weren’t experiencing issues early on Sunday. “All our operations proceed as regular proper now. We’ve updated NOTAM data by way of backup procedures,” a Delta spokesperson stated.
The US aviation system has confronted a troublesome week.
On Wednesday, an American Airways passenger jet and a army helicopter collided close to Reagan Washington Nationwide Airport killing 67 people, the primary deadly US passenger airline crash since 2009 and the deadliest US air catastrophe in 20 years.
On Friday, a medevac plane crashed quickly after takeoff in Philadelphia with a baby and 5 others on board. All died as did an individual on the bottom, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro stated.
