EXPLAINER: How NOTAM caused widespread flight disruptions
Until Wednesday, few travelers had heard of a Notice to Air Missions, or NOTAM
DALLAS (AP) — Until Wednesday, few travelers had ever heard of a Notice to Air Missions, or NOTAM, nor did they know that the system used to generate those notices could cause widespread travel misery.
As they arrived at airports in the morning, they quickly found out.
The Federal Aviation Administration computer system that compiles and distributes essential safety information for pilots went kaput. That temporarily grounded all flights nationwide and touched off a cascading air traffic jam that will take at least a day to unclog. More than 1,300 flights were canceled and 9,000 delayed by early evening on the East Coast because of the outage, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware.
The system has been around for more than a half century and it has evolved from paper to computers. It's in the process of being updated.
