The aviation warning system that went down on Saturday has been restored to working order, according to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. The primary NOTAM system, which pilots use to download their flight details before flying, experienced an outage on Saturday night. A backup system was activated, and there were minimal disruptions to flights. By Sunday morning, there were 1,313 delays and 80 cancellations to flights within, into, or out of the US.
NOTAM, which stands for Notice to Air Missions, alerts pilots about conditions that could affect the safety of their flights, such as runway lights being out or an air show taking place nearby. The system is separate from air traffic control but is a critical tool for air safety. This is not the first time the system has gone down, as there was a brief outage in January 2024 that halted all US flights.
Duffy stated that there is a process in place to fix the system, which is outdated and in need of an upgrade. The current outage highlighted the importance of having a functioning aviation warning system for the safety of air travel. Despite the disruption, the lead system is now online and working properly, ensuring that flights can operate safely and efficiently.
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