WASHINGTON - Several congressional oversight committees are ready to tackle just what happened during last year’s holiday travel rush when Southwest Airlines canceled 16,700 flights due to a software overload. Congress will also investigate the Federal Aviation Administration, which took the extraordinary step of shutting down all plane take-offs in the U.S. in January for the first time since 9/11 due to a computer glitch. The investigations may shake the entire airline industry according to, Erin Marquis and Jalopnik. Continue reading original article.
The Military + Aerospace Electronics take:
9 February 2022 - The Federal Aviation Administration was forced to ground all flights in the U.S. after the Notice to Air Mission (NOTAM) systems. This bill would update the NOTAM system and protect it from cyber attacks to prevent future outages. The House of Representatives passed the bill 424-4, which is the third time such an update was passed by the House. The Senate declined to take up the bill the first two times it passed.
Southwest Airlines was also forced to cancel thousands of flights after a software issue cropped up during a winter storm in which it was attempting to mass cancel other flights due to the weather.
Related: House passes bill to improve FAA system that grounded flights
Related: FAA has struggled to modernize computer, air traffic operations
Related: How a hacker unearthed the TSA no-fly list
Jamie Whitney, Associate Editor
Military + Aerospace Electronics
