More than 100 flights were grounded at airports along the US East Coast on Saturday due to a problem with a flight-tracking system in the Washington, DC area, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
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Washington Dulles global Airport and Baltimore-Washington worldwide Marshall Airport, as well New York’s La Guardia and John F. Kennedy worldwide airports, along with airports in New Jersey and Philadelphia are reporting similar delays.
FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen says the agency is investigating an automation problem at an air traffic center in Leesburg, Virginia.
But the stoppage had a domino effect, pushing back numerous flights.
The Associated Press reports that part of the trouble is due to “a computer system known as ERAM that air traffic controllers used at 20 centers around the country that handle high-altitude air traffic”.
Kate Smith, of Bethesda, Maryland, was sitting on a JetBlue plane at Boston’s Logan worldwide Airport on Saturday, trying to get home to her two cats after a vacation in Boston and Maine. But planes taking off from the Washington airspace were being kept at an elevation of 10,000 feet or lower, images from FlightRadar24.com showed.
A number of flights are being delayed or canceled do to a computer outage in Washington, D.C.
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“There is an issue with air traffic control impacting all airlines’ east coast flights”.
