Flights resume at Houston airports following computer glitch

HOUSTON FAA spokesperson Lynn Lunsford said the problem was with the computer processing involving about 165,000 square-miles of airspace that lies over a big part of Texas, including Houston. The issues affected the ability of controllers to do their jobs because they wouldn't have radar information. For example, one second you'd see the plane and then the second frame you'd see the plane where it was 6 seconds before as well as where it is now.

"Initially, when the problem arose, they halted all departures out of the Houston airports and continued to accept inbound planes," Lunsford said.

Controllers increased the spacing between inbound flights as a safety measure. The problem began at about 4:40pm.

"They have been able to restore the system to the point that they're able to allow limited takeoffs and as they bring it back up they'll return to full strength," Lunsford said.

Flights at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Love Field are impacted as well.

By about 6:00pm, the computer problem was completely resolved. Flights are still experiencing departure delays as controllers work to clear the backlog of planes.