FAA says computers working again; Controllers union says problems in Salt Lake City, too

FAA says flight computers working again

WASHINGTON — FAA officials say failed computers that delayed flights across the country are now working again.

The air traffic controllers union says the computer failure involved both of the Federal Aviation Administration’s computer centers in Salt Lake City and Atlanta.

Even though the FAA said Thursday the problem had been solved, Doug Church, a spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Union, said controllers were still entering flight plans manually into computers in some locations.

The computers at the two centers, which handle flight plans for air traffic throughout the country, broke down early Thursday.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

ATLANTA (AP) — A problem with the system that collects airlines’ flight plans caused widespread flight cancellations and delays across the U.S. Thursday. It was the second time in 15 months that a glitch in the flight plan system caused delays.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said she doesn’t know how many flights are being affected or when the problem will be resolved.

Another FAA spokesperson, Paul Takemoto, said the problem started between 5:15 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. EST (1015 and 1030 GMT). The outage is affecting mostly flight plans but also traffic management, such as ground stops and ground delays, he said.

Regarding flight plans, airplane dispatchers are now sending plans to controllers and controllers in turn are entering them into computers manually, he said.

“It’s slowing everything down. We don’t know yet what the impact on delays will be,” Takemoto said.

An AirTran Airways spokesman said there’s no danger to flights in the air, and flights are still taking off and landing.

However, spokesman Christopher White said flight plans must now be loaded manually because of a malfunction with the automated system.

“Everything is safe in the air,” White said.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world’s busiest airport, has been particularly affected.

AirTran had canceled 22 flights and dozens more flights were delayed as of 8 a.m. EST (0100 GMT). Delta Air Lines also has been affected.

The FAA said in a statement that it is having a problem processing flight plan information.

“We are investigating the cause of the problem,” the agency said. “We are processing flight plans manually and expect some delays. We have radar coverage and communications with planes.”

Passengers are being asked to check the status of their flights online before going to airports.

Only minor delays were being reported at metropolitan New York City area airports, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Flight plans are collected by the FAA for traffic nationwide at two centers — one in the Salt Lake City area and the other in the Atlanta area, Bergen said. She did not know which center was affected Thursday.

In August 2008, a software malfunction delayed hundreds of flights around the country.

In that episode, the Northeast was hardest hit by the delays because of a glitch at the Hampton, Georgia, facility that processes flight plans for the eastern half of the U.S.

The FAA said at that time the source of the computer software malfunction was a “packet switch” that “failed due to a database mismatch.”