US flight glitch: Unspecified personnel corrupted data file leading to FAA outage, says report

The computer outage that grounded flights across the United States on Wednesday and disrupted more than 11,000 flights, is now found to be an error related to a data file. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has said that some unspecified "personnel" were responsible for corrupting the file, Bloomberg reported.

The disrupted US airline operations returned to normalcy on Thursday.

The FAA has said that the data file was damaged as a result of a failure to follow government procedures, which prompted a halt of all US flight departures.

Some unspecified "personnel" were responsible for corrupting the file, which led to the outage of an FAA computer system that sends safety notices to pilots, an official statement read. This triggered the FAA to order a halt to all US departing flights which caused thousands of delays and cancellations Wednesday, the statement added.

Yesterday the FAA revealed that the breakdown came after “a data file was damaged by personnel who failed to follow procedures.” “The system is functioning properly and cancellations today were below 1 per cent,” the agency has said.

As per the report, two people who were working for a contractor might have introduced errors into the core data used on the system, known as Notam. Access to live NOTAM system is important, but it is not the only guiding system required for flights.

"The file or files were altered in spite of rules that prohibit those kinds of changes on a live system," an official said. A probe into the matter is underway to ascertain whether two people made the changes accidentally or intentionally or if there was any malicious intent, the person said, the Bloomberg report read.

Meanwhile, the White House has said there has been no evidence of a cyberattack. It added that the regulator is working to get to the root cause of the computer glitch. 

"There is no evidence of a cyberattack at this point. The President has directed the Department of Transportation to conduct a full investigation into the causes and provide regular updates. Again, this is incredibly important, a top priority, the safety of Americans who are flying every day," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at her daily news conference.

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