WTRF

Capito spearheads bill to prevent FAA outages

W.Va. (WTRF) – West Virginia Senator Shelley Moore Capito finds herself front and center on a new bipartisan push to improve air travel.

You’ll recall that just a few weeks ago on January 11, the Notices to Air Missions system went down, grounding all flights nationwide. Capito, along with Senators Amy Klobuchar and Jerry Moran have introduced a new bill to help prevent future FAA system outages.

While the outage frustrated and enraged travelers, it also highlighted huge cracks in one of the country’s most critical pieces of infrastructure.

“That shouldn’t be happening. That shouldn’t be happening in this country, and that certainly is not only an inconvenience. Much more than an inconvenience, it’s a safety issue and it’s something that needs addressed.”

SEN. SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, R-WV

The NOTAM Improvement Act as it’s called, requires the FAA to set up a task force to find ways to strengthen both the cyber security and the NOTAM system’s resiliency. The task force will be composed of airline industry experts and cyber security experts.

The purpose of the NOTAM System is to alert pilots of safety and location hazards on flight routes.