US votes to upgrade pilot safety notification system after January 11 flight groundings

US lawmakers have passed a bill they said aims to improve the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) pilot safety notification system (NOTAM) in the wake of the computer error that saw a nationwide flight grounding on January 11. “Today the House passed several bills to strengthen the reliability and effectiveness of the FAA’s NOTAM system and make federal disaster programs work better for disaster victims,” said Republican congressman Sam Graves, chair of the House of Representatives transportation and infrastructure committee. The NOTAM measures, introduced by Republican Pete Stauber and c0-sponsored by Democrat Mark de Saulnier, were followed by the passage of