Gregory Polek has spent his entire career in aviation journalism with AIN, starting as a proofreader and assistant to then-managing editor Mary Mahoney in 1995 after serving an internship with&nbsp;New Jersey Monthly&nbsp;magazine and completing his B.A. degree in English/Writing at New Jersey’s William Paterson College. By 1997 Polek accepted a position as an associate editor, covering the regional airline beat for&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;in place of retiring industry veteran Don Anderson. The assignment took Polek across North America and Europe to profile regional airlines varying in size and mission from the likes of floatplane operators Kenmore Air and Chalk’s Ocean Airways to regional jet operators such as SkyWest and American Eagle. Today, in his dual role as Air Transport Editor and International Airshow Editor, Polek writes, edits, and manages AIN’s commercial aviation content while overseeing each of the company’s daily international air show publications in Paris, Farnborough, Singapore, and Dubai. Most recently Polek has assumed oversight of daily coverage of the Helicopter Association International’s annual Heli-Expo convention.

Senior Editor

Gregory Polek

A failure to follow proper procedure by IT “personnel” damaged the corrupted database file in the FAA computer system that led to the grounding of all commercial flights in the U.S. for an hour and a half on Jaunuary 11, according to a statement released by the agency overnight. FAA investigators reached the conclusion before NBC Nightly News reported late Thursday that at least one of eight contract employees with access to the Notam system made the edit that corrupted the file in question, citing unnamed sources within the agency.
“Over the past 36 hours, the FAA has been conducting a preliminary analysis into the notam system interruption,” read the statement. “The agency determined that a data file was damaged by personnel who failed to follow procedures. The system is functioning properly and cancellations [on Thursday] were below one percent.” Asked by AIN whether or not the personnel in question were contractors or FAA employees, the agency declined to elaborate.
A day earlier, on January 11, U.S. airlines registered nearly 11,000 delays and almost 3,000 cancellations within, into, and out of the country, according to data from flight tracking service FlightAware.&nbsp;
The U.S. Department of Transportation has launched an investigation into the outage and members of Congress have vowed to do the same as they prepare to deliberate over the next FAA Reauthorization bill. The disruption has prompted questions as to whether the FAA's information technology is sufficiently robust, with some critics suggesting that the agency's infrastructure suffers from a lack of investment in modernization.&nbsp;

News about commercial airlines, including regulations, aircraft orders, safety, acquisitions, and mergers.

FAA Attributes Failure of Notam IT System to Human Error

IT personnel failed to follow procedure while working on the computer system that generates Notams, according to the FAA.

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News and developments about airplanes, helicopters and unmanned air vehicles used in all varieties of operations, including airlines, military, business, commercial, general aviation and private.

News about environmental issues relating to aircraft operations, including noise issues, emissisions, and regulations. See Fuel for biofuel.

News and issues relating to international air transport and cargo carriers, national airlines and regional airlines, including aircraft, engines, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security and training.

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News and issues relating to the aerospace industry that are related to the science, engineering and business of flight in space involving civil, industrial and military applications, and similar topics related to flight in the atmosphere of the Earth that are not covered more directly by other AINonline subject channels. In other words, both astronautical and aeronautical subjects, except for those aeronautical topics that are specifically covered elsewhere on this website.

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New developments at airports including regulations and noise issues; legal disputes; openings, acquisitions and mergers.

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News and developments about everything that goes into the cabin of an aircraft, from floor coverings to headliners, with a special emphasis on in-flight entertainment, communications and other electronics for passengers. If it is in the cabin of an aircraft, it’s covered here.

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