US flights grounded: What was the root cause of the outage and why now? Explainer
Following a nationwide US flight ground stop caused by a routine software update overloading aging equipment, the FAA reopened airspace, while affected passengers remain eligible for full refunds under specific regulations.
Following a nationwide US flight ground stop caused by a routine software update overloading aging equipment, the FAA reopened airspace, while affected passengers remain eligible for full refunds under specific regulations.
Following a nationwide US flight ground stop caused by a routine software update overloading aging equipment, the FAA reopened airspace, while affected passengers remain eligible for full refunds under specific regulations.
India woke up today listening to an unusual news from the US. The Federal Aviation Administration(FAA) issued a nationwide ground stop on all departing flights across the country. Initially, passengers on flights learned about it via cockpit announcements, and they were shared on social media, much before official statements and the White House press briefing on the same. While people feared many reasons ranging from Friday's Microsoft outage to massive cyber attacks, the FAA posted on its page that it happened due to a 'temporary telecommunications outage,' which promoted 'caution.' The White House also attributed 'overloaded analogue equipment' as the reason, before opening the airspace by around 6.45 am in India. Has something like this happened before? And why now? What can passengers do in such emerging scenarios?
The third such stop
Such nationwide ground stops are extremely rare, but this wasn't the first. It was in September 2001, following the 9/11 terror attacks, that the US shut airspace for the first time in this manner, reports NBC. While today's ground stop only affected planes which hadn't departed yet, the 9/11 order made even airborne planes land at the nearest airport immediately. Commercial flights were also not allowed to fly for the next two days.
On January 11, 2023, the second ground stop was ordered, and it was only for about 90 minutes. This was due to a failure in the FAA's Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system, which alerts pilots to abnormal conditions, safety hazards and runway closures. Though it was a short outage, it delayed around 10,000 flights as per reports. Today's ground stop was reportedly caused by a telecommunications and network equipment failure.
Why did the outage happen now?
The FAA says that they have been upgrading the air traffic control systems in the country since July last year. According to CBS News, on November 13, Friday, at around 3.36 pm in the US, the engineers pushed a routine update to the same. However, the old routers of the system choked on the sudden surge of data. In no time, radar and radio communications started failing. This forced the FAA to halt all departures in less than 20 minutes.
What can passengers do in such scenarios?
a) As per US laws, passengers can claim a full cash refund if their flights are cancelled or significantly delayed, or even if they choose not to travel. However, in case of 'uncontrollable' events like this, the airlines don't have to provide them with meals, hotels or extra compensation.
b)However, if they still want to fly, they can rebook with the airline's mobile app, where they might provide waived fees.
c) Save the screenshots of cancellations and related receipts for food and lodging, which can be claimed with your travel insurer or credit card.
d) Even after resumption of flights, do not go to the airport without verifying your flight status on the airline app or website.
e) Be aware that major carriers can still cancel select flights in the coming days to handle stranded crews and operational issues.