Lawmakers Call for Investigation Into Recent FAA System Outage
Lawmakers are calling for an investigation into the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) recent computer system failure that caused a nationwide ground stop for flights in the United States.
Politicians from President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to Republicans in the House and Senate have asserted that there must be an investigation to find out what took place to prevent it from happening in the future.
Buttigieg took fire due to the FAA falling under the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) jurisdiction.
Questions about the safety of air travel were prompted after the FAA’s Notice to Air Missions system (NOTAM) went down, causing thousands of flight delays and cancelations.
“This gives us a really important data point at a really important moment to understand what we’re going to need moving forward,” Buttigieg told reporters about the FAA outage.
Congress oversees the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) through various committees, including the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
These committees have jurisdiction over the FAA and its programs, and they have the authority to hold hearings, review and approve budgets, and pass legislation related to aviation.
Promise to Investigate
Several lawmakers, including Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) made statements about investigating the FAA’s computer failure.
Cantwell, who chairs the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee with oversight into the aviation industry, promised her committee would look into the failure.
“The No. 1 priority is safety. As the committee prepares for FAA reauthorization legislation, we will be looking into what caused this outage and how redundancy plays a role in preventing future outages,” she said, shortly after the ground stop caused almost 10,000 flights to be affected.
“The public needs a resilient air transportation system.”
Fellow Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee member Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) took aim at Buttigieg over the failure, saying the FAA’s problems were evidence of huge weaknesses in the system.
The Texas Republican demanded that the FAA be fully audited and that reforms be implemented before lawmakers reauthorize the agency this year.
The most recent five-year reauthorization, passed in 2018, was a rare bipartisan measure passed early in Trump’s presidency.
Cruz’s office responded to The Epoch Times’ inquiry about the subject by reiterating Cruz’s statement from his press release where he said, “The flying public deserves safety in the sky. The FAA’s inability to keep an important safety system up and running is completely unacceptable and just the latest example of dysfunction within the Department of Transportation.
“The administration needs to explain to Congress what happened, and Congress should enact reforms in this year’s FAA reauthorization legislation. This incident also highlights why the public needs a competent, proven leader with substantive aviation experience leading the FAA,” Cruz went on.
Republicans are particularly frustrated with the agency, which is under the umbrella of the DOT and does not have a Senate-confirmed administrator at this time.
The FAA announced in March of last year that Billy Nolen was named to serve as acting its administrator.
“Billy Nolen has extensive expertise in aviation and a deep understanding of the vital role the FAA plays in ensuring the safety of the traveling public,” Buttigieg said according to the FAA at the time.
Former FAA Administrator’s Resignation
This came after former FAA administrator Steve Dickson left his post partway through his appointment at the end of March.
Dickson, a former Air Force and Delta Air Lines pilot who worked his way up to be Delta’s senior vice president of flight operations, was appointed by former President Donald Trump and confirmed by the Senate to serve five years in his post.
However, he announced his resignation from the position last February, citing a desire to spend more time with his family post-pandemic.
Since that time the agency has been under the direction of Nolen. The position was meant to be temporary—as Biden nominated Phillip Washington, the chief executive of Denver International Airport, to lead the Federal Aviation Administration in July of last year.
The nominee had yet to receive a confirmation hearing as of late December 2022, as The New York Times reported.
Washington’s close affiliation with Biden does not appear to have garnered enough goodwill amongst even Democrat lawmakers to see him through conformation to his position.
Washington co-chaired Biden’s campaign’s infrastructure policy committee and led the transition team for the Transportation Department, which the FAA falls under.
However, the majority of Democrats on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation were reportedly silent when asked by reporters from the New York Times if they supported Washington’s confirmation.
