FAA modernization is looking more appealing after a domino-effect computer failure affected parts of the air traffic control system on Friday. The flight planning system in Atlanta failed, so the agency routed them to a system in Salt Lake City, which couldnt handle the extra load. That forced controllers to manually enter flight plans, slowing traffic to a crawl. Bad weather along the Eastern Seaboard added to the woes. The computer outage didnt last very long for most places, and the system was back up by 11 a.m., but New Yorks screens were blank for an extra two hours. Steve Coleman, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, told The Associated Press that hundreds of flights into and out of JFK, LaGuardia and Newark were delayed two to three hours. Southwest Airlines said 40 percent of its flights were delayed.
