WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The contractors who damaged computer files that caused the massive disruption to the U.S. flight system on January 11 did so “unintentionally”, aviation regulators said on Thursday.
The latest preliminary findings from the Federal Aviation Administration indicate that unidentified “contract personnel” were attempting to correct discrepancies between a live database and its backup when they accidentally deleted files, the agency said in an emailed statement.
The FAA last week ordered a rare halt to all US flight departures following a computer outage that made it impossible to provide safety advisories to pilots. The shutdown lasted less than two hours, but caused thousands of airline delays and cancellations.
The FAA said in the following days that people working on computer data violated agency policy. The agency did not know whether the actions were intentional or unintentional, a person familiar with the investigation who was not authorized to speak about them said last week.
The latest preliminary findings from the Federal Aviation Administration indicate that unidentified “contract personnel” were attempting to correct discrepancies between a live database and its backup when they accidentally deleted files, the agency said in an emailed statement.
The FAA last week ordered a rare halt to all US flight departures following a computer outage that made it impossible to provide safety advisories to pilots. The shutdown lasted less than two hours, but caused thousands of airline delays and cancellations.
The FAA said in the following days that people working on computer data violated agency policy. The agency did not know whether the actions were intentional or unintentional, a person familiar with the investigation who was not authorized to speak about them said last week.
