WRCBtv.com | Chattanooga News, Weather & SportsFAA Says Equipment Outage Caused 819 Flight Delays

FAA Says Equipment Outage Caused 819 Flight Delays

Updated: Nov 21, 2009 11:32 AM EST

By JOAN LOWY
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Federal Aviation Administration is blaming an equipment outage this week for delaying 819 flights.

The agency told employees in a briefing memo Friday that air travelers experienced a total of 2,121 delays the previous day due to the equipment outage as well as thunderstorms and other poor weather in the Northeast.

The memo said that the more than 800 flight delays attributable to the equipment outage included 273 in Atlanta. At New York airports, LaGuardia reported 81 equipment-related delays and JFK 44. Nearby Teterboro in New Jersey reported 83. An unidentified Midwest airport had almost 50 outage-related delays.

FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said the agency can't say for certain which delays were attribute to the outage and which to weather.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

UPDATE: 5:30 p.m. Thursday

Lauren Brown
Eyewitness News Reporter

CHATTANOOGA (WRCB) -- With bags in hand, passengers checked-in for their flights at the Chattanooga Airport.  But they quickly found out planes weren't leaving on-time Thursday.

"They said online it would be delayed a half hour going to Atlanta but my flight from Atlanta to DC is on-time so I might make my connection I might not," said Chad Barth, Passenger.

The reason for the delays, a piece of equipment failed in Salt Lake City and caused problems everywhere.  The glitch prevented air traffic control computers from communicating with each other nationwide.

"Technology happens and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't my own laptop will come down sometimes and I get frustrated but what are you gonna do," said Barth.

It was the same scenario for passengers coming home from Atlanta. Lee Starks flew in this morning and his flight was delayed more than two hours.

"When we got to Atlanta there were planes coming and going, but two hour delay coming to Chattanooga," said Starks.

And he doesn't expect those delays to let up anytime soon.

"I would say yeah two hours, I would guess it's going to be a two hour delay and the later you get in the day that problem is gonna compound itself and it'll be worse," said Starks.

Later flights aren't just affecting passengers, the phones are lighting up at Groome Transportation.

"We've been pretty busy with a lot of phone calls, this is the quietest it's been all day," said Tracey Stiegler, Groome Transportation Customer Service Manager.

Whether passengers are coming in from an earlier flight or just trying to avoid another flight delay, Tracey Stiegler says Groome may have to call in for re-inforcements.

"It would be an increase but we have the shuttles to cover it. We'll get extra shuttles down to Atlanta to cover the extra people so they'll get a ride back," said Stiegler.

The FAA computer problem has been fixed but there are still delays through the air traffic system because of the backlog Thursday morning. To find out the status of your flight you're urged to check flight tracker.

UPDATE: 10:20 a.m. Thursday

WASHINGTON (AP) - 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.

 (Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

CHATTANOOGA, TN (WRCB) The FAA is reporting widespread flight delays and cancellations because of a problem with the FAA system that collects airlines' flight plans.

FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen says she doesn't know how many flights are being affected or when the problem will be resolved.

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

However, spokesman Christopher White says flight plans are having to be inputted manually because of a malfunction with the automated system.

As a result, there are delays and cancellations. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world's busiest airport, has been particularly affected.  The latest reports say that flights are delayed until 10 a. m. at Hartsfield.

Flights at the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport are not experiencing a delay at this time.