Flight Delays: FAA Claims Computer Glitch Causing Airport Delays

by Blaine Metzgar | November 19, 2009 at 08:30 am

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The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) claims a computer glitch was causing serious fllight delays earlier this morning. According to FAA spokesperson, Paul Takemoto, the issue started between 5:15 and 5:30 a.m. affecting the system that collects airline flight plans as well as traffic management on runways.

But the FAA recently confirmed that the issue was, for the most part, resolved with some controllers still having to manually enter flight plans,

The Federal Aviation Administration said the problem was fixed around 10 a.m., but it was unclear how long flights would continue to be affected. Doug Church, a spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Union, said controllers were still entering flight plans manually in some locations.

In a statement the FAA stated the computer glitch was a "packet switch" that "failed due to a database mismatch"; this is the second time in 15 months a glitch has incited such problems.