Overflight At FL600 May Have Caused Problems At LA ARTCC

A U-2 spy plane flying over California Wednesday is believed to have caused a computer problem that led to the FAA halting takeoffs from several airports around the southwestern portion of the United States.

Reuters relays a report from NBC News that the computer glitch at the Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) affected flights departing from Burbank, John Wayne Airport, Bob Hope Airport, McCarran International in Las Vegas, and LAX. Flights departing to the southwestern U.S. were also held on the ground, according to the report.

The U-2 was reportedly transiting the area at FL600. Unnamed sources told NBC that the airplane caused an "overload" of the center's computer system. The ARTCC was trying to re-route traffic to avoid collisions with the U-2 flying miles above any other airplane.

The FAA would not say whether the computer problems were caused by the old spy plane. FAA spokeswoman Lynn Lunsford said in an email to Ruters that the agency not confirm " anything beyond what we already said about it being a software issue that we corrected."

(U-2 pictured in file photo)

FMI: www.faa.gov