![]() ![]() Typically, there’s about two weeks of advance notice before each launch, and during that time, air traffic controllers can develop alternative arrangements for the flights scheduled on that day. To make sure that planes aren’t hit by this debris, the FAA typically stops flights from traveling within a rectangle-shaped block of sky that can stretch from 40 to several hundred miles long, depending on the type of launch. Reusable boosters used by some spacecraft, like SpaceX’s Falcon 9, reenter this airspace, too. While these rockets typically only spend a few minutes in this airspace, they can create debris, like spent pieces of rocket hardware, either because they’re designed to shed their payloads in several stages or because the mission has failed. In order to break through the atmosphere and reach outer space, rockets must first travel through airspace that’s monitored by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which oversees air traffic control centers and flight navigation throughout the country. The spaceship problem is relatively straightforward: Air traffic controllers currently have to ground or reroute flights during launches. The situation is also a sign that the arrival of the second space age could have an unexpected and even extremely inconvenient impact on everyday life. While right now these delays are concentrated in Florida, this problem could get a lot worse, especially as the number of spaceflights increases and as new launch facilities, or spaceports, open in other parts of the country. “It’s like putting 10 pounds of potatoes in a five-pound bag, so you’re further congesting an already constrained airspace on the west coast of Florida.” That traffic has to go somewhere,” John Tiliacos, the executive vice president of operations and customer service at Tampa International Airport, told Recode. “They close significant airspace on the east coast before and during and after a launch. But in Florida, a growing number of space launches - particularly those in the Cape Canaveral area - is also making flight schedules more complicated. Last week, federal regulators met to discuss these disruptions, which reflect many of the ongoing challenges facing the aviation industry, including storms, the rising cost of jet fuel, the Covid-19 pandemic, and a shortage of airline workers. (Some of these can be attributed to a surge in private and charter flights.) Things are even worse at Jacksonville International Airport, where there were nearly 9,000 flight delays in March. Palm Beach International Airport logged more than 100 delays or cancellations on April 15 alone. In recent weeks, flights in and out of Florida have seen a sharp increase in delays. ![]() But thanks to the rise of the commercial space industry, there’s now a surprising new source of air travel disruption: rocket launches. The FAA said it is reviewing its procedures.You can typically blame an airline flight delay on a handful of usual suspects, like bad weather, mechanical issues, and traffic on the tarmac. Military officials told CBS News there was no need for the grounding. North Korean tests are always cause for concern, but until now they have not been cause for grounding airliners. It frankly couldn’t even reach Japan,” the Middlebury Institute’s Jeffrey Lewis told CBS News. “It doesn’t have anything like the range that would be necessary to reach the United States. The missile traveled 400 miles in what North Korea claimed was a test of a hypersonic missile. Within minutes, the North American Air Defense Command inside Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado had determined it was not a threat to the U.S. The North Korean launch was immediately detected by satellites. “I’ve just been given information that we are in a ground stop.” ![]() “I honestly have been given no information at this time,” an air traffic controller responded. “Is it a security-related issue, or do we know anything?” a pilot in San Diego asked, according to air traffic control audio obtained by CBS News. But there were some confused pilots and air traffic controllers. The latest North Korean missile test, conducted under the watchful eye of Kim Jong Un, was never a threat to the United States, but right after it was launched, the Federal Aviation Administration grounded airline flights at major airports on the West Coast - from Seattle to San Diego and from Las Vegas to Honolulu.įull operations resumed less than 15 minutes later and airlines reported no major delays. flights grounded amid North Korea missile launch ![]()
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