US FAA adopts new safeguards after computer outage halted flights

The FAA told lawmakers it had made a series of changes to prevent a repeat of a computer system outage that on Jan. 11 disrupted more than 11,000 US flights. Acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen wrote in a letter dated Friday and seen by Reuters on Monday that the agency has made a change in the system to prevent a corrupt file from damaging a backup database. Last week the FAA told lawmakers it had revoked access to a pilot messaging database by contractor personnel who unintentionally deleted files in the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) database. Nolen's letter said attempts to restore those files contributed to the outage and since then the FAA had adopted a one-hour delay in synchronizing databases that should prevent data errors from immediately reaching the backup database. The FAA also said it "now requires at least two individuals to be present during the maintenance of the NOTAM system, including one federal manager." Reuters reported some of the upgrades earlier. The FAA action was the first nationwide groundstop of departing flights since the Sept. 11, 2001, al Qaeda attacks on the United States.<br/>