Washington
CNN
—
The massively disruptive computer outage at the Federal Aviation Administration this week that caused thousands of cancelled or delayed flights has put Americans uncomfortably face-to-face with the technology behind US air travel — for at least the second time in a month.
As the country once again picks up the pieces, beleaguered air travelers may be wondering why flying suddenly seems so vulnerable to devastating IT problems.
The answer involves not just aging hardware and software, but also institutional failures that have made updating the technology more challenging, according to current and former industry officials, government reports