MHT passengers deal with delays amid national FAA ground stop
Jan. 11—Airplanes were grounded for more than three hours Wednesday morning after an overnight FAA computer outage in the first nationwide ground stop since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
"I wasn't too concerned from a safety perspective," said Ted Kitchens, director of the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport. "Aviation has multiple layers of redundancy when it comes to safety and security. For me, it was more about, 'How long is this going to go? And can they get the system back up sooner rather than later?'"
Kitchens admitted the timing was frustrating given Southwest Airlines' problems with delayed and canceled flights over the holidays.
About 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, the Federal Aviation Administration said it was working to restore its Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) System which provides notices "containing information essential to personnel concerned with flight operations," according to the FAA website.
The ground stop was lifted at 8:50 a.m.
The White House said Wednesday morning, "There is no evidence of a cyberattack at this point, but the President directed DOT to conduct a full investigation into the causes."
In all, 17,054 flights were delayed and 8,520 canceled nationwide because of the shutdown. At MHT, 10 flights were delayed and eight canceled, according to the flight-tracking website FlightAware.
Kitchens said the airport worked with vendors to make sure concessions at the airport were open and able to serve customers waiting for delayed flights. Some were able to open early, he said, despite staffing challenges.
Just before 11 a.m., Angela Pelio Rella looked up at the arrival and departures board while on the phone with her friend of more than 30 years, Georgette, who Pelio Rella will visit for an extended stay in Fort Lauderdale.
She didn't hear about the grounding until well on her way to the airport from Colebrook.
"She's been keeping me posted," Pelio Rella said. Her flight, with a layover in Baltimore, was delayed by about three and a half hours.
"I thought it was a joke, you know, like 'April Fools,'" she said. "I think it's terrible that in a split second, things could be crippled like that. That's scary."
Aiden Lexa, 20, of Somersworth, stood nearby wearing an Army National Guard jacket and sweatpants. His flight to Reagan National Airport in Washington was delayed for about two hours.
"Looks like my connecting flight is also delayed," he said after checking his smartphone.
His final destination was Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri for basic combat training. He kept in touch with his sergeant via phone but said he wasn't too stressed by the delays. His initial ship date of Dec. 28 was postponed because his flight then was canceled.
He knew about the ground stop before heading to the airport.
"Technology always fails, no matter what we do," he said.
Federal review
In Washington, Congress will review the cause of the outage.
Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, a Democrat, said on Wednesday that the panel "will be looking into what caused this outage and how redundancy plays a role in preventing future outages. The public needs a resilient air transportation system."
House Transportation Committee Chair Sam Graves, a Republican, said the ground stop "highlights a huge vulnerability in our air transportation system." He referred to the recent technology meltdown that forced Southwest to cancel more than 16,700 flights.
"Just as Southwest's widespread disruption just a few weeks ago was inexcusable, so too is the DOT's and FAA's failure to properly maintain and operate the air traffic control system," he said.
Graves said he would be "leading an oversight letter with my colleagues to make sure that we know what went wrong, who's responsible, and how this is going to be prevented in the future."
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, the incoming top Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, said, "The FAA's inability to keep an important safety system up and running is completely unacceptable ... The administration needs to explain to Congress what happened, and Congress should enact reforms in this year's FAA reauthorization legislation."
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said "the FAA needs to get to root causes so this doesn't happen again."
The FAA authorization is due to expire on Sept. 30 and the outage may put pressure on Congress to complete action.
The FAA has been without a permanent administrator since March. The Senate has yet to hold a hearing on President Joe Biden's pick to head the agency, Denver International Airport Chief Executive Phil Washington, who was renominated by Biden last week.
Graves said "this incident also underscores the number of empty desks and vacant offices at the FAA ... The FAA does not run on autopilot — it needs skilled, dedicated and permanent leadership in positions across the agency, starting with the administrator's office."
Flexibility helps
Back at Manchester, Bob Forand, who rescheduled his Southwest flight from Tuesday to Wednesday after spending a few days visiting family in Concord, was only delayed about an hour.
"I am kind of flexible with my schedule, so it wasn't a big deal," Forand said. "I am one of the lucky ones, I guess." As an engineer, he can work remotely and said he would likely boot up his laptop right there at the airport.
Kitchens said most travelers flying on Wednesday likely would have delayed connecting flights as well.
How long it would take to return to normal depended on each airline's operation, he said.
"Most airlines appear to be handling this very well."
Material from Reuters was used in this story.
