U-2 spy plane triggers air control glitch

[LOS ANGELES] An air traffic control glitch that caused hundreds of flight cancellations or delays across Southern California last week was triggered by a computer misinterpreting the flight path of a U-2 spy plane, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Monday.

A computer problem at an air traffic control centre in Palmdale, California last Wednesday forced the delay or cancellation of more than 200 flights at Los Angeles International Airport.

Dozens of flights were also delayed at smaller airports across the region, as well as commercial airliners headed for Southern California from across the country. "On April 30, 2014, an FAA air traffic system that processes flight plan information experienced problems while processing a flight plan filed for a U-2 aircraft that operates at very high altitudes under visual flight rules," FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford said in a written statement issued by the agency.