FAA computer glitch briefly snarls flights across US

The Federal Aviation Administration's computer that manages flight plans failed early Tuesday afternoon, causing some airlines to delay departures.

According to spokespersons with the US Federal Aviation Administration, the problem lasted roughly from 1:30 pm to 6:00 pm Eastern time. The issue centered around a communications failure at the agency's Atlanta location.

Flight planners were not left out in the cold completely, however. The FAA runs another flight plan system from Salt Lake City; however, it is not designed to handle the entire nation's traffic, so it quickly overloaded.

A total of 646 flights were said to have been delayed as a result of the glitch. Not all airports were affected evenly either: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, and Chicago seemed to be hit the hardest.

FAA officials believe that a software glitch is at the root of the problem, but were quick to deny that the problems were the result of any type of compromise. They added that the Georgia facility began processing flight plans once again at 1:15 am. At no time did the FAA lose track of the ability to track planes in the air.

The filing of flight plans is an important step in flight preparation. That information is used to organize traffic and to maximize in-air safety. It gives flight controllers necessary details about planes in every stage of their journey.

Tuesday's issue was not the first for the Atlanta facility. Last week, a hardware problem briefly caused issues with processing flight plans -- about 134 flights were affected. FAA officials said that issue was unrelated to the the most recent problem.

A spokesperson conceded that the problem with the system was its worst yet -- saying so far the FAA had only experienced minor equipment failures.

Both presidential candidates used the opportunity to highlight the perceived deterioration of quality in airline service. "It once again highlights the need to reform and repair a broken system," Republican presumptive nominee Sen. John McCain said. "While we still do not know the full extent of today's problems, we do know that unless action is taken now, the breakdowns of today will become all too common in the future."

Democratic presumptive nominee Sen. Barack Obama echoed Sen. McCain's comments, saying "airline passengers are sick and tired of delays and cancellations."