Corrupted file to blame for FAA aviation stoppage that delayed thousands of flights

Flights across the United States were grounded Wednesday morning after the Federal Aviation Administration said it experienced a computer outage.

Flights across the U.S. resumed Wednesday morning, several hours after the Federal Aviation Administration suffered a computer outage that forced it to halt all departures nationwide while it scrambled to resolve the issue.

The FAA said the crippling delays that affected thousands of flights appear to have been caused by a problem in the Notice to Air Missions system, or NOTAM, which sends pilots vital information they need to fly.

A corrupted file affected both the primary and the backup systems, a senior government official said Wednesday evening, adding that officials continue to investigate.

"The FAA is continuing a thorough review to determine the root cause of the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system outage," the agency said in a statement. "Our preliminary work has traced the outage to a damaged database file. At this time, there is no evidence of a cyber attack."

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Wednesday evening that the FAA will further pinpoint the source and identify steps to prevent it from happening again, and he echoed the agency in saying there is no evidence of a cyber attack.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/us-flights-grounded-faa-outage-rcna65243

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