US transport secy blames expired tech for flight chaos

Washington: The nationwide ground stop that led to thousands of flight cancellations in US was the first since Jan 2023, when another key Federal Aviation Administration computer system that sends notices to pilots malfunctioned, and the second since the Sept 11, 2001, attacks.Andrew Charlton, an aviation consultant, said the stoppage on Friday had affected about a quarter of the 45,000 flights in the US each day."The knock-on effect of that is incredible," said Charlton, managing director of Aviation Advocacy. "The aircraft doesn't just fly from A to B and back to B and then stop. It then moves onto C and then over to E and around and around and around. It is, of course, exacerbated if you're talking about long-haul flights, international flights over the Atlantic or over the Pacific."At airports across the US, passengers stared at screens showing delays or rushed to find buses or trains to their destinations. Emily Brown and her 14-year-old daughter waited more than four hours Friday at the Dallas airport for their flight to Columbus, Ohio, before giving up. They were travelling to surprise her daughter's best friend. Instead, she had to settle for phoning the friend through tears in the airport, Brown said."She saved up her money to buy her own ticket, and she's planned this whole weekend," Brown said.