US flight chaos after database file breaks

[Hanno Labuschagne]

US flight chaos after database file breaks

An overlooked software flaw is opening up US aviation authorities to new scrutiny over the resiliency of the systems that keep the nation’s planes moving.

Federal Aviation Administration officials were still working late Wednesday to determine what went wrong in an outage that prompted a nationwide flight stoppage.

[Bloomberg]

 

[konfab]

The South Africanisation of the US is in full force.

For the first time, DOT has centered Equity as a Department-wide strategic goal. This is a critical step to institutionalizing equity across the Department’s policies and programs, with the aim of reducing inequities across our transportation systems and the communities they affect.
LEARN MORE

https://www.transportation.gov/priorities/equity

At the FAA people are our strength. We are stronger, more innovative, and more successful when a diversity of talents and experiences are at the table. The mission of the FAA involves securing the skies of a diverse nation. It only makes sense that the workforce responsible for that mission reflects the nation that it serves. Visit our Jobs page to view recently opened FAA jobs and learn how the FAA supports and engages in a variety of associations, programs, coalitions and initiatives to support and accommodate employees from diverse communities and backgrounds.

https://www.faa.gov/deia

The moment you stop employing people based on merit, things crash rapidly.

 

[Azbubu]

The South Africanisation of the US is in full force.


https://www.transportation.gov/priorities/equity


https://www.faa.gov/deia

The moment you stop employing people based on merit, things crash rapidly.

Since you’re blaming the equity employees for this would you then give them credit for this:

Federal data suggests FAA’s reliability has improved dramatically.

Flight delays attributed to the FAA, which also include most weather-related issues, have fallen from about 60% in 2003 to 36% this year through October, according to Transportation Department data.

That occurred even as the FAA wrestled with staffing issues and Covid-19 disruptions.

Or does it not work like that?

 

[Herr der Verboten]

yawn

 

[konfab]

Since you’re blaming the equity employees for this would you then give them credit for this:



Or does it not work like that?

The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA’s) Notice To Air Missions (NOTAM) system has failed for the first time in history. The system, critical for relaying essential information to flights, has been out since yesterday evening, and it’s starting to affect services in and out of the USA.

https://simpleflying.com/flights-grounded-as-us-notam-system-fails/

 

[konfab]

I'm pretty sure that flaw was overlooked in the code peer review under the white males only era.

0/10
Pete Buttigieg is a diversity hire.

 

[konfab]

Aviation expert blasts Washington, FAA over outage: Congress knew about potential NOTAM failure for years

Aviation attorney Sal Lagonia argued Washington lawmakers knew about the potential failure of the FAA's NOTAM system and called on Pete Buttigieg to prioritize fixing the problem.

www.foxbusiness.com

What now?

They had more important things to do, like to rename it.

The NOTAM system is what went down. NOTAM's are "notices to air missions" as they are called now. They were called, "notices to airman," but to be politically correct the FAA changed that name, but they didn't fix the system. I heard one of the senators say they knew about this overnight. They’ve known about this for years, that this system needs to be changed.

Renaming something to be politically correct whilst not fixing it? Shows you where the exactly where their priorities were.

After taking office in 2021, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg oversaw a rebranding of the FAA system that failed today and delayed thousands of flights so that it would be 'more inclusive'.

The NOTAM system previously stood for Notices to Airmen but Buttigieg's office changed it to stand for Notices to Air Missions in December 2021.

It was a decision that they said ensured that the name was 'inclusive of all aviators and missions.' In addition to the name-change, the system has been undergoing 'modernization' for the last several years.

It remains unclear whether that modernization or any of the changes played a role in the overnight outage that led the FAA to ground all flights in the US on Wednesday morning, a drastic measure that hasn't been taken since 9/11.

The FAA's website describes the 'modernization' as 'ongoing'. In a December 22 post, the FAA said the transition would be carried out in two phases.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11624815/Pete-Buttigieg-rebranded-FAAs-faulty-NOTAM-make-inclusive.html#:~:text=The%20NOTAM%20system%20previously%20stood,of%20all%20aviators%20and%20missions.'

 

[Wut]

Someone is lying to cover their asses. The issue seemed to start in Florida around the 3rd of January and then spread nationwide yesterday. Even in SA there are backups of the backups of ATC systems and a restore wouldn't take this long.

My company has had to edit our mission control software to no longer pull NOTAM info from the US systems. Luckily we don't have any flight ops in that region at the moment.

 

[grok]

Anyone seen this one near Florida recently?

 

[gregmcc]

"Our preliminary work has traced the outage to a damaged database file. At this time, there is no evidence of a cyberattack," the FAA said.

 

[Hanno Labuschagne]

Human error behind US flight chaos

The computer failure that prompted a halt of all US flight departures was caused when a data file was damaged as a result of a failure to follow government procedures, the Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday.

Unspecified “personnel” were responsible for corrupting the file, which led to the outage of an FAA computer system that sends safety notices to pilots, the agency said in a statement.

[Bloomberg]

 

[PsyWulf]

This is what happens when you write your national flight safety system in Access 2000

 

[Azbubu]

Human error behind US flight chaos

The computer failure that prompted a halt of all US flight departures was caused when a data file was damaged as a result of a failure to follow government procedures, the Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday.

Unspecified “personnel” were responsible for corrupting the file, which led to the outage of an FAA computer system that sends safety notices to pilots, the agency said in a statement.

[Bloomberg]

Are these “personnel” the EE candidates as @konfab alluded to?

 

[konfab]

Are these “personnel” the EE candidates as @konfab alluded to?

The preliminary indications are that two people working for a contractor introduced errors into the core data used on the system known as Notice to Air Missions, or Notam, according to a person familiar with the FAA review.

And lets see what their business plan says shall we?

Support small businesses and job creation by providing opportunities for small businesses to attain FAA contracts and purchase orders, with special emphasis on procurement opportunities for socially and economically disadvantaged small businesses (including 8(a) certified firms), service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, and women-owned small businesses.

https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/2022-01/ACR_FY22_Business_Plan.pdf

Oh right, BEE by another name.

Small business owners in the United States that have suffered from both economic and social disadvantage can avail themselves to the Small Business Administration (SBA) and enter what is called the 8(a) Business Development program. Entrance into the program is obtained through the acquisition of 8(a) Certification. This program is a business development program designed to help small businesses overcome past hardships and challenges the owner(s) have experienced. The owner of the firm must be a U.S. Citizen in order to apply.


https://www.ez8a.com/8a-certification.aspx

The broader principle at play is that the FAA should only be doing one thing, and that is making air travel as safe as possible using the budget allocated to it. Evidently though, like every other rat-infested government dept, they have to all solve society's problems.

 

[Azbubu]

And lets see what their business plan says shall we?




https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/2022-01/ACR_FY22_Business_Plan.pdf

Oh right, BEE by another name.


The broader principle at play is that the FAA should only be doing one thing, and that is making air travel as safe as possible using the budget allocated to it. Evidently though, like every other rat-infested government dept, they have to all solve society's problems.

Damn those disabled veterans and women. They just can’t do anything right.

 

[saor]

The South Africanisation of the US is in full force.


https://www.transportation.gov/priorities/equity


https://www.faa.gov/deia

The moment you stop employing people based on merit, things crash rapidly.

All I could make out from the various links you've posted is these companies are stating they're open to employing anyone regardless of race, gender or distality status. Nowhere do I see them giving preference to specific people?

 

[konfab]

All I could make out from the various links you've posted is these companies are stating they're open to employing anyone regardless of race, gender or distality status.

Why would a policy of merit exclude someone of a particular race, gender or disability?

All I could make out from the various links you've posted is these companies are stating they're open to employing anyone regardless of race, gender or distality status. Nowhere do I see them giving preference to specific people?

That is because you have rose-tinted glasses and don't know what the word "equity" means. They literally say it.

RECEIVE A SET-ASIDE CONTRACT. As a part of the Government-wide effort to develop new businesses, we may reserve certain planned contracts for small business. Subcategories of small business that may be set-aside include:

• Small Business
• Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business
  
• Small Business Owned and Controlled by Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Individuals (8(a) certified).
  

In awarding these contracts, we can restrict competition to a particular category of small business. Up to two categories may also be combined for a Combined Set-Aside. Small business development staff listed below can help explain set-aside requirements and potential opportunities.

https://sbo.faa.gov/Inline.cfm?PageName=Doing Business with the FAA as a Small Business

Is that clear enough or do I need to hire a demographically representative interpretive dancer to dance it out for you.

 

[saor]

Why would a policy of merit exclude someone of a particular race, gender or disability?



That is because you have rose-tinted glasses and don't know what the word "equity" means. They literally say it.



https://sbo.faa.gov/Inline.cfm?PageName=Doing Business with the FAA as a Small Business

Is that clear enough or do I need to hire a demographically representative interpretive dancer to dance it out for you.

That has to do with awarding contracts, not specifically to do with their employment policies. You were the one who said:

The moment you stop employing people based on merit, things crash rapidly.

And I still don't see anything supporting your claim that they're referencing skin colour etc. over skill when it comes to employing people.

 

[LCBXX]

 

[Gordon_R]

Reports that a contractor unintentionally deleted critical files while synchronising the database:

FAA outage: US airline regulators blame contractor for travel chaos

The US airline regulator says a contractor is responsible for delaying and cancelling thousands of flights.

www.bbc.com