WASHINGTON: A key US pilot messaging system was experiencing a brief outage, which might result in flight delays on Sunday, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy mentioned late on Saturday (Feb 1).
The Federal Aviation Administration is working to revive the “Discover to Air Mission” or NOTAM system, Duffy mentioned on X.
“There’s at present no affect to the Nationwide Airspace System as a result of a backup system is in place,” Duffy mentioned. “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 mentioned the FAA “activated its contingency system to complement and assist preflight briefings and proceed flight operations … We’re investigating the foundation trigger and we’ll present updates”.
He mentioned passengers ought to examine 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 essential security notices. It might embrace gadgets like taxiway lights being out at an airport, close by parachute exercise or a particular runway being closed for development.
A Southwest Airways spokesperson mentioned the service 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 Traces and United Airways mentioned they weren’t experiencing issues early on Sunday. “All our operations proceed as regular proper now. We have now updated NOTAM data by backup procedures,” a Delta spokesperson mentioned.
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 mentioned.
