Thursday morning flights on time at McGhee Tyson after a day of cancellations, delays

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - What caused the computer system problem that grounded every plane in America from taking off Wednesday morning?

President Joe Biden announced he did not know if the Notice to Air Missions outage was a cyber attack but investigators are working to find out. A government system that sends safety information to pilots broke down early that morning.

Pilots could not get real-time information about flight hazards or restrictions, so the FAA stopped takeoffs. This meant hundreds of flights were canceled and thousands delayed.

WVLT News spoke with people who were scrambling inside the airport as many didn’t know what was going on with their flights. After planes were sent back in the air, some passengers said a late flight is better than no flight at all.

“All the seats were full,” said Tori Robinson, a Knoxville resident. “People were sitting on the floor. It was quite ridiculous this morning.”

As of writing, all Thursday morning departures up until 8 a.m. were set to take off on time.

Airport officials encourage travelers to download airline applications to get real time updates on flights.

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