Failure Occurs As the FAA Begins a System Modernization Process

The Notice to Air Mission (NOTAM) system returned to working status at 11:00 am on February 2 after a several-hour outage. Though officials said there was “minimal disruption” to operations, the event hopefully gives the FAA a little extra motivation to modernize the system.

“It went down last night. A backup system was activated,” stated US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. “As of right now, the lead system is online and working.”

The primary NOTAM system failed late on February 1. While this does not directly affect flight operations, NOTAMs are crucial to inform crews of any potential hazards - including procedure changes, lighting outages, or special events nearby. Luckily, the FAA has a backup system to "supplement and support preflight briefings,” Duffy continued.

Pilots and crews ran off the contingency system for several hours until the primary NOTAM system came back online at around 11:00 am the following morning. Many airlines were also able to utilize their own backup procedures to keep operations flowing, so there seem to be few delays or cancellations directly tied to the outage. Still, passengers were encouraged to keep an eye on their flight status.

“This is the system where pilots download their information; their flight details before they fly. So, if the NOTAM system doesn’t work, planes don’t fly,” Duffy explained. “But there was minimal disruption.”

While operators and travelers were mostly in the clear this time, they weren’t so lucky during the last major NOTAM failure. In January 2023, the system went down and caused the first nationwide groundstop since 2001. Over 11,000 flights were impacted. Eventually, the outage was traced to contractors accidentally deleting thousands of crucial files.

“There’s a process in place right now to get this system fixed. We want to expedite that and get this new system in place,” Duffy noted. “This is an old system that needs to be upgraded.”

FMI: www.faa.gov