A damaged database file in a legacy system caused a 90-minute ground halt resulting in 10,000 delayed and 1,300 cancelled flights. The ground stop was called by the Federal Aviation Administration when the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system — which alerts pilots and airports of real-time hazards — went offline, creating potential safety hazards. This was the second major airline IT issue in recent weeks, causing problems for travelers across the country.
NOTAM is reportedly older technology and the FAA’s fiscal 2023 Budget requested $21 million for migration and modernization of the system, stating “this migration activity will address issues with failing ‘vintage’ hardware and software modules.”…
And that’s the problem with technology debt in government. Most people don’t think about a system until it’s not working. Recent estimates on technology debt and the federal government are difficult to come by, but it was estimated at $7 billion in 2018. While the pandemic may have ushered in some modernization, as all of government has had to take a digital first approach, it’s the backend systems that are suffering and where attention needs to be paid. Legacy code bases and mainframe technology have served a purpose, but modernization and migration to cloud computing offer advantages that need to be taken, including the ability to build in resiliency and redundancy, something that could have potentially helped FAA in this situation… Read the full article here.