Kerry Lynch stepped into the role of editor of the&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;monthly magazine in May 2022 after serving with&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;for eight years. She joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in December 2014 as a senior editor covering Washington and business aviation news. She has also served on Convention News teams, including as editor of&nbsp;HAI Convention News. Lynch previously spent 25 years with Aviation Week. During her time there, she reported for and later steered&nbsp;The Weekly of Business Aviation, oversaw business aviation content on the&nbsp;Aviation Week Intelligence Network, served on the&nbsp;Show News&nbsp;staff, and held roles as the Washington columnist for&nbsp;Business &amp; Commercial Aviation&nbsp;and&nbsp;Overhaul &amp; Maintenance&nbsp;monthly magazines. In 2021 she was honored with the National Business Aviation Association Platinum Wing Award for lifetime achievement in journalism and was the 2004 recipient of the National Air Transportation Association’s Aviation Journalism Excellence Award. She also has been a recipient of an Aerospace Media Award for business aviation (2022) and NBAA Gold Wing Award (2003, 2024). Lynch graduated from The Ohio State University with a bachelor of arts in journalism.

Editor, AIN monthly magazine

Kerry Lynch

While the FAA continues to examine the notam system outages that led to the temporary ground stop on January 11, the agency has taken initial steps regarding the database and maintenance to safeguard against similar&nbsp;glitches from occurring, according to FAA Acting Administrator Billy Nolen.&nbsp;Thousands of flights were canceled or&nbsp;delayed on the morning of January 11 as the agency worked to fix an issue that caused the notam system to fail.
In a letter to House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee leadership late last week, Nolen noted that a preliminary review found a contractor unintentionally deleted files in the system database and that attempts to restore those files contributed to the outage. He further pointed out that the agency “owns the notam system, but it is contractor maintained.”
Nolen said the agency's&nbsp;Air Traffic Organization began noticing issues with the system at 3:28 p.m. on January 10, prompting technical experts to troubleshoot&nbsp;throughout the day and into the next morning. By the evening of January 10, the agency had established a hotline with more than 100 stakeholders to provide real-time updates. But, he added, operators started&nbsp;to be impacted early Wednesday and the FAA implemented a ground stop until the database was restored and testing complete.
Since that time, the FAA has introduced a one-hour synchronization delay for one of the backup databases to prevent data errors from immediately reaching the backup. Contractor personnel involved in the deletion do not have access to the FAA buildings while the investigation is ongoing and the agency is now requiring at least two individuals to be present during notam system maintenance. One of those must be a federal manager.
Nolen noted that the notam system is undergoing a modernization program, the first phase of which will be completed in 2025. At that point, the legacy system will be discontinued. The agency has requested $2 million for a machine-to-machine information exchange program that will help identify future improvements to the notam environment.
Nolen’s letter came in response to T&amp;I committee leaders' queries&nbsp;about the outage. The committee does not have hearings planned on the specific issue but does have sessions upcoming for the next&nbsp;FAA reauthorization bill. The first hearing, scheduled for February 7, will delve into safety&nbsp;and the notam system is likely to come up then.

FAA Bolsters Safeguards for Notam Maintenance, Database | Ainonline.com

Acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen said the agency has taken initial precautions to protect the notam database.

FAA Bolsters Safeguards for Notam Maintenance, Database

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