U.S. House eyes creating task force on flawed aviation computer system
Send a link to a friend
[January 21, 2023]
By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. House of Representatives plans to take up
bipartisan legislation next week to establish a Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) task force to improve a pilot messaging database
that failed last week, disrupting 11,000 flights.
The outage of the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) database prompted the
Jan. 11 nationwide groundstop of U.S. passenger traffic, the first since
the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The NOTAM system provides pilots, flight crews and other users of U.S.
airspace with critical safety notices.
The legislation would require an FAA task force to consider
improvements, including updates "to ensure the stability, resiliency and
cybersecurity of the NOTAM computer system," said Representative Pete
Stauber, a Republican sponsor of the bill.
Stauber said in a statement the failure shows "the urgent need for
updates and improvements... to keep air traffic moving safely in our
skies."
On Thursday, the FAA's initial review found contract personnel
"unintentionally deleted files" disrupting the NOTAM system, adding the
issue occurred while personnel were working "to correct synchronization
between the live primary database and a backup database." The FAA said
it has "found no evidence of a cyber-attack or malicious intent."
FAA acting Administrator Billy Nolen held a virtual briefing for
congressional staff on Friday but did not identify the contractor
involved in the failure. The FAA next week plans to hold a briefing for
House lawmakers.
[to top of second column]
|
A person walks past the U.S. Capitol
building at sunset as the Republican-controlled House of
Representatives reconvenes on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S.,
January 9, 2023. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo
There are two separate databases including a 30-year-old system
known as the U.S. NOTAM System" based in Oklahoma City being phased
out in favor of the newer "Federal NOTAM system" based in Atlantic
City, the sources said.
Last week, the corruption occurred in the US NOTAM system, which
then infiltrated the federal NOTAM database. The FAA has since
installed safeguards including a staggered updating process to
isolate issues before they could impact the other database. The FAA
is requiring two people to be present when routine maintenance is
being conducted, the sources added.
The FAA said Thursday it has taken steps to make the pilot message
system "more resilient." The FAA eventually plans to move the NOTAM
messaging system to a virtual platform in the cloud, sources said.
Last week, a group of more than 120 U.S. lawmakers told the FAA the
computer outage was "completely unacceptable" and demanded the
agency explain how it will avoid future incidents.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Leslie Adler and David
Gregorio)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|