Computer Woes Delay Flights

A five-hour air traffic control computer failure today stalled the Thanksgiving weekend getaway for thousands of Californians and the legacy of that outage was expected to linger throughout the day, officials said.

The computer in Palmdale broke down about 5:30 a.m. and wasn’t back in operation until about 10:30 a.m., said Barbara Abels of the Federal Aviation Administration. The failure forced controllers to shift to a backup system that provides less information, Abel said. Departures from Los Angeles International, Burbank and Ontario airports had to be postponed for 30 minutes beginning at 7:30 a.m., but no safety problems were reported.