Why is the FAA’s NOTAM system so important to pilots?
LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) — The Federal Aviation Administration halted all domestic flight departures across the U.S. this morning after its pre-flight information system went down.
Blue Grass Airport is still experiencing delays and cancellations.
The White House also directed the Department of Transportation to launch an investigation.
The Federal Aviation Administration first tweeted out that its Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system was down just before 6:30 a.m. That system alerts pilots to real-time information on flight hazards and restrictions.
We spoke with a commercial airline pilot who told us why these systems are so important and why this system being down led to a complete grounding.
“Things like snow removal in progress, which is common one this time of year, runway closures, navigational aid closures, changes to the procedures at that airport. Every airport is required to report these anomalies to the FAA on a timely basis. And then it’s the FAA’s job to distribute that information to the pilots that will be operating in and out of these airports. The issue this morning was the computer system the FAA uses to distribute the information to the pilots crashed,” said commercial airline pilot Nicholas Pelletier.
Blue Grass Airport officials are urging travelers to keep checking with their airline for delays or cancellations throughout the day.
