At 8:28 PM last night, the FAA's Notice to Air Missions System (NOTAMs) went down and grounded all departing aircraft across the nation.
Before beginning a flight, pilots are required to consult NOTAMs for potential adverse impacts on flights, but without the ability to consult the FAA, there's no way to know if there's construction or if there's icy runways or if the guy who waves the lighted batons around is out sick.
The system used to be run via telephone, but has recently moved online. When the online version went down, they tried to use the old telephone version, but it was quickly overwhelmed as the traffic picked up this morning.
President Joe Biden was questioned about the event and whether it was a cyber attack. He said,
I just spoke to Buttigieg. They don't know what the cause is. But I was on the phone with him about 10 minutes. I told him to report directly to me when they find out. Air traffic can still land safely, just not take off right now. We don't know what the cause of it is.
I for one feel bad for Mayor Pete. It must be hard going from a small time mayor to being in charge of the infrastructure of a nation with the sole qualification of your sexual identity.
The FAA said it is working to restore the system.
We are performing final validation checks and reloading the system now. Operations across the National Airspace System are affected.
Flights gradually began resuming, but as of the time of writing, experts still had no clue why this happened.
Considering the mess U.S. travelers had to face with the airlines during the holidays and last summer; I'm beginning to sense a pattern.
But the delays and flight cancellations ARE leading to less air travel, which sounds like part of a familiar agenda.
