NOT-AM, but PM seems to be okay, says the FAA

Yesterday, the entire airline industry ground to a brief halt. The Federal Aviation Administration prohibited every single domestic flight in the US – and this isn’t an exaggeration – from lifting off between 7:20 am ET and 8:50 am ET, with many officials comparing the situation to what occurred after the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, per Reuters.

And similar to Southwest’s recent debacle, once again it’s all thanks to those pesky computers. Though in this instance, an overnight outage in the FAA system that provides pilots with flight-safety notices was to blame.

🤔 So, what happened?... Officials said they have yet to determine how the outage occurred, but no evidence has emerged pointing to a cyberattack or other foul play.

The affected system, called Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM), sends real-time alerts to pilots to let them know of conditions that could affect the safety of their flights, like flocks of birds or icy runways, before that information can be publicized by other means. So similar to a Bloomberg terminal, but for pilots instead of traders.

• Quick aside: NOTAM is separate from the air traffic control system that keeps planes a safe distance from each other, but it's also considered essential for air safety.

📸 Big picture: FlightAware, which tracks delays and cancelations, showed nearly half of all flights traveling to, from, or within the United States – about 10,800 in total – were delayed or canceled yesterday. And ripple effects from NOTAM’s outage could lead to further travel delays or cancelations through Friday, according to several airlines.