Anatomy of a Bipartisan Knee-Jerk

On Wednesday, 25 January 2023, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a rare bipartisan bill addressing the shortcomings of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) NOTAM system and recommending improvements to such.

Dubbed, somewhat prosaically, the NOTAM Improvement Act, the legislation espouses the creation of a task force charged with devising and presenting means by which to boost the NOTAM system’s security, stability, and robustness.

Subject task force would comprise general aviation and airline pilots, airline and airport industry executives, union officials, air traffic controllers, and additional aviation stakeholders and computer system experts.

On 11 January 2023, a failure of the NOTAM system compelled the FAA to ground an estimated ten-thousand U.S. flights and delay scores more. The agency has since ascribed the failure to government contractors who allegedly deleted files unintentionally while working to improve the system’s databases. The FAA asserted it had found evidence of neither cyber-attack nor nefarious actors, but pledged, nevertheless, that it would continue to investigate the incident.

In a statement the agency set forth: “The FAA made the necessary repairs to the system and has taken steps to make the NOTAM system more resilient. The agency is acting quickly to adopt any other lessons learned in our efforts to ensure the continuing robustness of the nation’s air traffic control system.”

Representative Mark DeSaulnier (Democrat-California), who co-led the NOTAM Improvement Act with Representative Pete Stauber (Republican-Minnesota) stated: “Following the FAA meltdown earlier this month, it is clearer than ever that improvements must be made to our aviation safety systems.”

Notwithstanding the fact that the bill has thrice been passed by the house—most recently by a margin of 424-4—the U.S. Senate has yet to take up the measure.

Speaking on the House floor, Representative Stauber declared: “I encourage my colleagues in both the House and the Senate to pass my legislation before another failure of the NOTAM system occurs. Our pilots, crew members, and passengers are counting on us.”

FMI: www.faa.gov