On January 11, 2023, thousands of flights across the United States were delayed or canceled due to an apparent failure in the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system. This resulted in a temporary ground stop being placed on all domestic flight departures. The FAA later confirmed that preliminary indications pointed to a “damaged database file” as the cause of the outage. This massive disruption to air travel highlighted vulnerabilities in the FAA’s critical IT systems and raised questions about the agency’s contingency planning.
What is the FAA’s NOTAM system?
NOTAMs are notices containing essential information pilots need to know before taking off, such as runway closures, equipment outages, and other operational changes. The FAA’s NOTAM system disseminates this information to pilots and airport operations personnel. Over 100,000 domestic and international NOTAMs are issued each year.
The NOTAM system consists of multiple databases containing current NOTAM data. This includes preflight data provided by contractors like Jeppesen and Aeronav, as well as airport facility data provided by the FAA. The NOTAM system integrates this data and makes it available through online portals and telecommunication services. Aircraft operators and flight planning services query the NOTAM system to check for relevant notices before filing flight plans.
Keeping the NOTAM system updated is critical for aviation safety and efficiency. Any issues with data distribution could prevent pilots from getting the information they need for safe flight operations.
What caused the NOTAM system failure?
In the early morning hours of January 11, the FAA experienced an outage of the NOTAM system that provides safety information to flight crews. In a statement, the FAA confirmed that the outage appeared to be caused by a damaged database file:
“The FAA is continuing a thorough review to determine the root cause of the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system outage. Our preliminary work has traced the outage to a damaged database file. At this time, there is no evidence of a cyber attack. The FAA is working diligently to further pinpoint the causes and take all needed steps to prevent this kind of disruption from happening again.”
The damaged database file corrupted the system and prevented NOTAM data from being updated and disseminated. This led to a ripple effect of delays and cancellations across US air travel, as flight crews did not have up-to-date safety information.
According to FAA Administrator Billy Nolen, personnel noticed the first indication of the database file issue at around 8:28 pm ET on January 10. Attempts to reset the main and backup databases were unsuccessful. By early morning on January 11, it was clear the NOTAM system would remain offline indefinitely, leading Nolen to order a nationwide ground stop.
How did the NOTAM failure impact flight operations?
With the NOTAM system down, flight crews and air traffic controllers did not have the latest safety notices and airport operational data needed to allow flights to safely takeoff and land. This resulted in the FAA placing a ground stop on all domestic departures until 9 am ET.
Over 1,200 flights within, into, or out of United States airspace were delayed according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. More than 100 flights were cancelled. The impacted flights were operated by major airlines like Southwest, United, American, and Delta. Operations began to resume around 9am ET once the ground stop was lifted, but thousands of travelers still experienced disruptions throughout the day.
The FAA outage did not appear to significantly impact international flights landing in the US. Those crews obtain NOTAM data directly from the countries they depart from. However, a few inbound international flights were delayed as a precaution.
The impacts were felt most at major airports like Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago O’Hare, Los Angeles International, and Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson. These busy hubs experienced hundreds of delayed flights apiece. Recovery was slower at these facilities that had to work through backlogs. Smaller regional airports seemed to get back to normal operations sooner.
Could the failure have been prevented?
Aviation experts have questioned why the FAA did not have adequate redundancy built into the NOTAM system to prevent or quickly recover from the database failure. For such a critical system, reliance on a single database file represents a single point of failure.
The FAA states the NOTAM system has multiple redundancy measures, including backup databases and power supplies. However, the database damage occurred in both the main and backup files simultaneously. This implies a potential issue with how database synchronization or error-checking is implemented.
Cybersecurity will also be an area of focus in the FAA’s investigation and reviews. However, early reports indicate no evidence that the outage was caused by hackers or a malicious attack. Still, the failure underscores the growing vulnerabilities of critical infrastructure to technical glitches and cyber events. Increased redundancy, monitoring, and fail-safe capabilities will be important for boosting resilience.
The FAA does have contingency plans that include manual distribution of NOTAM data directly to airlines, airports, and aviation partners during an outage. However, executing widespread manual dissemination across the national airspace system takes significant time. Automating more of these back-up protocols could allow key information to be shared faster in future outages.
What was the impact on travelers?
The sudden mass cancellation and delaying of flights on the morning of January 11 left thousands of air travelers stranded, frustrated, and scrambling to adjust their plans.
With limited information about the cause and duration of the FAA outage in the early morning, travelers faced chaos and confusion at major airports. Lengthy call center hold times made it difficult to get rebooking help from airlines. Flyers took to social media to vent their complaints over lack of communication and customer service.
As the day progressed, the FAA delays and cancellations left many travelers separated from luggage, stuck overnight at airports, or needing to drastically adjust travel itineraries. Missed connections, complex rebookings, and extended hotel and meal costs added to the disruption and expense for flyers.
Business travelers were particularly impacted, potentially missing important meetings and obligations. Some opted to cancel their air travel plans entirely and switch to car trips due to all the uncertainty.
The suddenness of the mass cancellations meant many travelers were unable to proactively adjust their plans. With operations resuming, airlines and the FAA still struggled to reconnect separated passengers with their checked bags. This added to frustrations with the post-outage recovery process.
Potential long-term impacts on air travel
While the FAA outage was relatively short in duration, it demonstrated how vulnerable America’s air transport network is to technical failures affecting centralized, critical systems.
This single point of disruption cascaded into thousands of flight cancellations and delays nationwide within just a couple of hours. It highlights the lack of slack and flexibility in the complicated, interdependent web of air travel logistics. With minimal excess capacity or buffers, the system is easily thrown into chaos by system failures.
The outage has renewed calls for significant modernization and increased resiliency of FAA technologies and contingency plans. Updating aging computer systems and reducing reliance on single databases could prevent future outages. More redundancy for NOTAM distribution and flight planning data may be needed.
Travel consumer groups will likely pressure airlines and regulators to improve passenger protections and communication practices for major disruptions. Clearer policies and enforcement could minimize the hardships travelers face from technical meltdowns.
More robust cost recovery mechanisms and travel insurance offerings may be needed to compensate passengers and industry for losses caused by major system outages.
In the hyperconnected aviation industry, isolated technical problems can rapidly cascade across the entire air transportation network. The FAA will need to thoroughly investigate this NOTAM failure and implement measures that reduce the chances of nationwide operational impacts due to single points of failure.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a NOTAM?
A NOTAM is a Notice to Air Missions containing critical flight safety information that pilots need to know before flying. NOTAMs include details on closed runways, equipment outages, and other factors that may impact flight planning and aircraft operation.
What NOTAM data was unavailable during the outage?
The FAA outage prevented updates to airport and runway closure notices, equipment status changes, and other safety advisories needed for flight crews. Over 100,000 domestic and international NOTAMs are issued per year.
What caused the NOTAM system to fail?
The FAA stated that preliminary findings point to a damaged database file as the trigger for the outage. This corrupted the NOTAM system and prevented updates. The damaged file affected both primary and backup databases simultaneously.
How many flights were delayed or cancelled due to the outage?
Over 1,200 flights were delayed and 100+ flights cancelled according to flight tracking data. Impacts were concentrated at major hub airports with thousands of travelers affected nationwide.
Could the FAA have prevented the outage?
Aviation experts say more redundancy in databases and distribution methods could have minimized the impacts. Contingency plans for manual NOTAM dissemination exist but take time to execute nationwide.
How were airlines and travelers impacted?
Thousands of flyers faced disruptions including missed connections, canceled travel plans, extra expenses, and separation from luggage. Airlines struggled to reconnect passengers with their checked bags after operations resumed.
Will there be changes made to prevent future outages?
The FAA is investigating the failure and will likely update technologies, contingency policies, and air traffic control procedures to reduce future outage risks. Calls for increased funding may occur to modernize aging air traffic systems.
Tables Summarizing Outage Impacts
| Airport | Arrival Delays | Departure Delays | Cancellations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dallas-Fort Worth | 253 | 253 | 57 |
| Chicago O’Hare | 248 | 248 | 42 |
| Los Angeles Intl | 170 | 170 | 34 |
| Atlanta Hartsfield | 164 | 164 | 38 |
| Airline | Delays | Cancellations |
|---|---|---|
| Southwest | 458 | 62 |
| Delta | 358 | 55 |
| United | 302 | 67 |
| American | 276 | 49 |
Conclusion
The FAA NOTAM system outage on January 11, 2023 resulted in significant flight delays and cancellations that disrupted air travel nationwide. Though relatively brief, it highlighted serious vulnerabilities to key aviation infrastructure that must be addressed through enhanced redundancy, updated technologies, and improved contingency protocols. With proper investigation and responsive action, the aviation system can be made more resilient to future technical failures. The FAA must leverage this event to implement meaningful measures that reduce outage risks and minimize impacts on passengers and operators when the next systems failure inevitably occurs.