US flight chaos puts harsh spotlight on FAA after tense year
An overlooked software flaw is opening up US aviation authorities to new scrutiny over the resiliency of the systems that keep the nation’s planes moving. FAA officials were still working late Wednesday to determine what went wrong in an outage that prompted a nationwide flight stoppage. The agency said preliminary findings traced the cause to a “damaged database file” — confirming an earlier Bloomberg News report — and there’s no evidence of a cyberattack. The system breakdown immediately attracted criticism from prominent lawmakers and aviation industry leaders, just weeks after Southwest Airlines was called out by authorities for its own technology failures. “The FAA’s inability to keep an important safety system up and running is completely unacceptable and just the latest example of dysfunction within the Department of Transportation,” said Texas Senator Ted Cruz, the leading Republican on transportation issues. The system outage heightens tensions after an already-contentious year in which airlines and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg traded accusations over who was most responsible for air-traffic disruptions. It also sets up a potential showdown as Congress prepares to write legislation setting FAA policy for the next few years. Senator Maria Cantwell, a Washington Democrat who chairs the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, said the committee will be “looking into” the FAA meltdown. The situation is an awkward turn for aviation officials, coming shortly after the Southwest meltdown stranded thousands of passengers during the holidays. “We have the secretary who lambasted Southwest and the airlines over their response to avoid cancellations and delays and provide compensation, but right now he doesn’t appear to accept responsibility or provide a clear answer when his own department fails,” said Kenneth Quinn, a partner at the Clyde & Co law firm and former chief counsel for the FAA. “Who’s going to compensate these affected passengers?”<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2023-01-13/general/us-flight-chaos-puts-harsh-spotlight-on-faa-after-tense-year
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US flight chaos puts harsh spotlight on FAA after tense year
An overlooked software flaw is opening up US aviation authorities to new scrutiny over the resiliency of the systems that keep the nation’s planes moving. FAA officials were still working late Wednesday to determine what went wrong in an outage that prompted a nationwide flight stoppage. The agency said preliminary findings traced the cause to a “damaged database file” — confirming an earlier Bloomberg News report — and there’s no evidence of a cyberattack. The system breakdown immediately attracted criticism from prominent lawmakers and aviation industry leaders, just weeks after Southwest Airlines was called out by authorities for its own technology failures. “The FAA’s inability to keep an important safety system up and running is completely unacceptable and just the latest example of dysfunction within the Department of Transportation,” said Texas Senator Ted Cruz, the leading Republican on transportation issues. The system outage heightens tensions after an already-contentious year in which airlines and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg traded accusations over who was most responsible for air-traffic disruptions. It also sets up a potential showdown as Congress prepares to write legislation setting FAA policy for the next few years. Senator Maria Cantwell, a Washington Democrat who chairs the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, said the committee will be “looking into” the FAA meltdown. The situation is an awkward turn for aviation officials, coming shortly after the Southwest meltdown stranded thousands of passengers during the holidays. “We have the secretary who lambasted Southwest and the airlines over their response to avoid cancellations and delays and provide compensation, but right now he doesn’t appear to accept responsibility or provide a clear answer when his own department fails,” said Kenneth Quinn, a partner at the Clyde & Co law firm and former chief counsel for the FAA. “Who’s going to compensate these affected passengers?”<br/>
