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Virginia Control Center Caused Flight Delays

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WASHINGTON (AP) - The Federal Aviation Administration says a technical problem at an air traffic control center in Virginia that caused hundreds of flights to be delayed or canceled was possibly caused by a software upgrade at a high-altitude radar facility.

The FAA said Sunday in a statement that the upgrade was designed to provide more tools for controllers, but authorities have disabled the new features while the systems contractor conducts a complete assessment.

The agency said there were roughly 492 delays and 476 cancellations related to the technical problem, which resulted in about 70 percent of normal Saturday air traffic at the Baltimore-Washington International Airport , 72 percent at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and 88 percent at Dulles International Airport.

Don Rush is the News Director and Senior Producer of News and Public Affairs at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.