The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has revoked access to a pilot messaging database for contractor personnel involved in a file deletion that led to the first nationwide groundstop since 2001.
The FAA identified the contractor involved as Bethesda-based Spatial Front and said in an email to lawmakers that “all personnel from Spatial Front directly involved in the deletion have lost access to FAA buildings and systems while we complete our investigation.”
The Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system provides pilots, flight crews, and other users of US airspace with critical safety notices. The FAA said the deletion occurred while personnel were working “to correct synchronisation between the live primary database and a backup database.”
Since late March, the FAA has been operating without a permanent administrator.
The FAA stated earlier in the day that while some NOTAM users have experienced delayed response times, the system was still “up and operating.”
US airlines confirmed to Reuters that no NOTAM issue on Wednesday affected any of their flights.
