US FAA Adopts New Safeguards After Computer Outage Halted Flights

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) told lawmakers Monday it had made a series of changes to prevent a repeat of a key computer system outage that forced a nationwide Jan. 11 ground stops disrupting more than 11,000 flights.

The FAA said it has implemented “a one-hour synchronization delay for one of the backup databases. This action will prevent data errors from immediately reaching that backup database.” The FAA also said it “now requires at least two individuals to be present during the maintenance of the (messaging) system, including one federal manager.”

(Reporting by David Shepardson)

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