>> Good evening and welcome to
the newshour.
The nation's air travel system
has had another long and
difficult day.
By late afternoon, nearly 1300
flights had been canceled and
more than 8000 delayed because
of a critical system failure at
the FAA.
>> The failure force the FAA to
call a nationwide halt to
operations for several hours.
Federal officials vowed to get
to the bottom of an outage that
disrupted travel plans for
millions of people.
A wave of delays and
cancellations rippled from
coast-to-coast just as the
nation's airports were starting
their day.
The sun shut down left terminals
filled with travelers with
nowhere to go.
The ground stop order was lifted
just before nine :00 A.M.
Eastern time but the disruptions
lingered for hours.
Pat and Allison were trying to
fly out of Newark New Jersey.
>> I am really upset but what
can I do?
>> Makes you kind of nervous is
there something else maybe we
are not being told right now.
>> The problem started late
Tuesday when the FAA's notice to
air mission system with down.
That antiquated computer system
supplies information flight
crews must have before being
allowed to take off.
This morning, transportation
secretary Pete buttigieg said
initially there was no sign of a
cyber attack.
>> There has been no direct
evidence or indication of that
but we are not going to roll
that out until we have a better
understanding of what is taking
place.
>> Several hours later he vowed
to get to the bottom of what
happened.
>> My top priority right now
another system is working again
as of 9:00 this morning is to
understand the root cause come
understand how it could've led
to this level of disruption and
how to make sure it does not
happen again should >> All of
this comes weeks after a massive
holiday flight cancellations and
delays reach havoc for days.
That trouble was blamed on
winter weather and southwest
airline's outdated technology
and reliance on a point-to-point
system rather than using hubs.
The air travel system is heading
back to a more routine schedule
this evening but today's
disruptions led to the first
nationwide flight stoppage since
9/11.
It has raised questions again
about the reliability and
vulnerability of our system.
Our science and aviation's
special correspondent joins us
to look at those concerns.
Thanks for being here.
Let's start with this system,
the notice to air mission system
the FAA says went down late on
Tuesday.
What does it do and how to
create such a mess?
>> Notice to air missions are
the late changes to the game
plan.
You have published information
on airports and what is
available and what frequencies
are working and what navigation
systems are working but things
change and before you take off
you want to know if the runway
is closed or the frequency is
not working or if there is some
airspace closed.
That is all encapsulated in
these noticed air missions
formerly known as notice to
airmen.
They are sometimes minor
changes.
Sometimes very important but
most important for an airliner
can be dispatched on a flight
the pilots have to be briefed on
what the notices are along their
route of flight.
The remedy for this problem is
you don't take off.
It is not like a situation where
something like this fails,
airplanes fall out of the sky
but clearly causes huge
disruption if it is not working.
>> We have heard secretary
buttigieg saying they're still
trying to figure out what was
the root cause, how did this
happen, how did they keep it
from happening.
What are the possible theories?
>> Those of us who follow the
FAA are not surprised to see a
technological glitch sadly.
This is in agency that has
historically been underfunded on
its effort to modernize.
It is basically a system built
after World War II, 1950's
technology using spinning radar
domes and uhf radio
transmissions between the ground
in pilots.
It has not moved into the space
age as it should have using
satellites and computer
transmission.
As it has move and starts
into the modern age there have
been glitches along the way.
I think quite like this one but
it is indicative of the fact the
agency needs to spend more on
its infrastructure.
The fact it is so safe is
remarkable frankly.
This is a testament to the men
and women who made the system
work in spite of its antiquated
technology.
>> We did hear from travelers.
Today was a big headache.
Delays and disruptions but some
have safety concerns and the
bigger concern is if a system
like this could fail, are there
other systems you think are also
vulnerable to similar failure?
>> That is the lurking question.
The redundancy is what makes the
system safe.
Flight critical systems.
Navigation systems, the team
that gets you down to the dark
and stormy night onto the
runway.
You want that to be backed up in
many different ways.
This system which is part of the
overall picture of redundancy
evidently did not have enough
backups.
As I say, that did not cause a
direct flight safety problem.
It caused huge inconvenience but
you have to ask yourself, or
other problems lurking in the
system where there needs to be
more resilience, needs to be
another layer of redundancy and
I think it is high time
congress, the people in
Washington focused on the FAA
and thinking about it is a
crucial piece of infrastructure
and appropriating the right
amount of money to fix it.
>> Luckily today, just
incredible delays and
disruptions.
Not a safety concern.
Our science and aviation special
correspondent.
Thank you for being with us.
Always good to see you.
>> You are welcome.