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Ground stop lifted after FAA ordered pause on all domestic flights due to technical issue

A computer failure at the FAA could potentially have an impact on flights across the country, including a possible nationwide grounding, according to a statement released Wednesday.

By: Rebekah Nelson , Associated Press

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TAMPA, Fla. — The FAA's ground stop has been lifted following an order to halt all domestic flights due to a computer failure on Wednesday.

The pause was in effect until 9 a.m. to "allow the agency to validate the integrity of flight and safety information," according to ABC News.

Update 5: Normal air traffic operations are resuming gradually across the U.S. following an overnight outage to the Notice to Air Missions system that provides safety info to flight crews. The ground stop has been lifted.

We continue to look into the cause of the initial problem
— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) January 11, 2023

Multiple flights on TPA's website are currently listed as delayed until 9:00 a.m. or later.

The affected system is responsible for sending out flight hazards and real-time restrictions to pilots known as NOTAM (Notice to Air Missions). At around 6:30 a.m., there were 760 delays within, into or out of the United States, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.

The Department of Transportation is currently investigating the outage.

The President has been briefed by the Secretary of Transportation this morning on the FAA system outage. There is no evidence of a cyberattack at this point, but the President directed DOT to conduct a full investigation into the causes. The FAA will provide regular updates.
— Karine Jean-Pierre (@PressSec) January 11, 2023

United Airlines was one of the many airlines impacted by the issue.

"The FAA system that sends out important real-time flight hazards & restrictions to all commercial airline pilots - Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) - is currently suffering a nationwide outage," the company said in a statement. "United has temporarily delayed all domestic flights and will issue an update when we learn more from the FAA."

NOTAMs used to be available through a hotline, but that was phased out with the internet. The alerts span from mundane information about construction at airports to urgent flight restrictions or broken equipment.

This is a developing story and will be updated when more information is provided.

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