BREAKING: Flights in the United States Grounded Due to FAA System Outage
Anyone who’s flying within the United States today may be facing some serious complications.
While many travelers within the U.S. have faced plenty of flight issues within the last few years due to weather, staffing shortages, and fuel costs, a new problem is causing all flights to be grounded on the morning of January 11th, 2023.
U.S. Flights Grounded Due to FAA System Outage
At 6:29AM on January 11th, 2023, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) tweeted that they were working to restore the Notice to Air Missions System, which caused flights to halt across the United States.
The FAA is working to restore its Notice to Air Missions System. We are performing final validation checks and reloading the system now.
Operations across the National Airspace System are affected.
We will provide frequent updates as we make progress.
— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) January 11, 2023
Although some functions were apparently restored around 7:30AM, the FAA subsequently tweeted that they ordered all airlines to pause departures in the U.S. until 9AM ET.
Update 3: The FAA is still working to fully restore the Notice to Air Missions system following an outage.⁰⁰The FAA has ordered airlines to pause all domestic departures until 9 a.m. Eastern Time to allow the agency to validate the integrity of flight and safety information.
— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) January 11, 2023
United States Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tweeted that President Biden had been briefed about the situation and there was no evidence of a cyberattack as the cause of this FAA system outage at this time.
The President has been briefed by the Secretary of Transportation this morning on the FAA system outage. There is no evidence of a cyberattack at this point, but the President directed DOT to conduct a full investigation into the causes. The FAA will provide regular updates.
— Karine Jean-Pierre (@PressSec) January 11, 2023
A little after 8AM ET, the FAA announced that all flights in the air were safe to land.
All flights currently in the sky are safe to land. Pilots check the NOTAM system before they fly. A Notice to Air Missions alerts pilots about closed runways, equipment outages, and other potential hazards along a flight route or at a location that could affect the flight.
— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) January 11, 2023
Departures have since resumed at Newark Liberty International Airport as well as Atlanta Airport as a result of air traffic congestion, and the FAA announced that departures were expected to resume at other airports in the U.S. at 9AM ET.
Update 4: The FAA is making progress in restoring its Notice to Air Missions system following an overnight outage. Departures are resuming at @EWRairport and @ATLairport due to air traffic congestion in those areas. We expect departures to resume at other airports at 9 a.m. ET.
— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) January 11, 2023
Update: At 8:50AM ET, the FAA announced that “normal air traffic operations are resuming gradually across the U.S.” and that the ground stop had been lifted. An investigation will follow to determine what caused this system outage.
Update 5: Normal air traffic operations are resuming gradually across the U.S. following an overnight outage to the Notice to Air Missions system that provides safety info to flight crews. The ground stop has been lifted.
We continue to look into the cause of the initial problem
— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) January 11, 2023
This is a developing situation and we’ll continue to update as we learn more, so stay tuned for more information from MickeyBlog!