Airline Safety System That Failed Must Wait to 2030 for Fix
- House lawmakers to hold a hearing Tuesday on aviation safety
- System is in need of upgrades amid FAA budget uncertainty
Travelers check flight their flight status as flights are cancelled at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, on Jan. 11.
Photographer: Nathan Howard/BloombergUS aviation authorities are years behind on updating the critical-alert system that failed spectacularly last month, causing thousands of flight disruptions. Critics say the delay is a threat to passenger safety.
House lawmakers are scheduled to hold a hearing Tuesday on aviation safety at which they’re likely to raise questions about the Jan. 11 meltdown of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Notice to Air Missions system, or Notam. While the FAA has taken steps to ensure that the platform won’t fail in the same way again, its problems go far deeper after years of neglect, including issues that contributed to one of the worst near-disasters in US aviation history six years ago.