Eastern US air traffic system fails, but backups kick in

Washington

IF there was good news from the air traffic computer system failure that forced thousands of flights in the eastern US to be scrubbed or delayed last Saturday, it was that it never threatened to become a catastrophe.

"There was a lot of inconvenience and a loss of service, but there was never a loss of safety," John Hansman, a aeronautics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said in an interview. "The good news is they were able to go to backups."