According to a government official familiar with the investigation into the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system outage, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is still trying to figure out who is to blame for the corrupted file identified in the CNN investigation. Flights across the United States were grounded as a result of the NOTAM outage.
The official stated that they are unsure of the nature of the corruption, whether it was a “routine entry” or one that was coded incorrectly.
The FAA acknowledged a “damaged database file” in a new statement issued Wednesday night. According to the agency, the investigation is still ongoing.
“The FAA is conducting an extensive investigation to determine the cause of the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system outage. Our preliminary investigation has linked the outage to a corrupted database file. There is currently no evidence of a cyberattack. The FAA is working hard to determine the root causes of this problem and to take all necessary steps to prevent similar disruptions in the future “According to the statement.
The FAA attempted to reboot the NOTAM system early Wednesday morning, according to reports. When the corrupted files were discovered in both the primary and backup systems, the agency decided to ground all flights across the country until the situation could be resolved.