A very old spy plane and a very new computer system played pivotal roles in last week 's computer glitch that temporarily paralyzed flight operations in southern California , officials tell CNN . The problem involved a U-2 aircraft , the type famed for conducting reconnaissance missions over the Soviet Union during the Cold War . A Federal Aviation Administration computer system interpreted the U-2 's flight path at a very high altitude as if it were flying in a much lower and more crowded airspace . The computer -- which anticipates the flight path and looks for possible conflicts such as other aircraft or restricted airspace -- was overtaxed by the many flight changes the U-2 had plotted , officials said . That work used much of the computer 's memory and interrupted its other flight-processing functions , FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said in a statement . The agency said it has added computer memory to prevent a recurrence , while others said officials are racing to install a more permanent computer patch . The hourlong computer shutdown Wednesday afternoon led to dozens of delayed , diverted and canceled flights but did not result in any mishaps . It had the most impact in the Los Angeles area , where flights were grounded while experts sought to troubleshoot the problem . The side effects lasted almost half a day . To resolve the issue , the FAA `` has enabled facilities that use the computer system to significantly increase the amount of flight-processing memory available . The FAA is confident these steps will prevent a reoccurrence of this specific problem and other potential similar issues going forward , '' Brown said . Two FAA officials , speaking on background Monday , blamed the shutdown on the unlikely convergence of two events . First , a U-2 aircraft flew a path that involved numerous waypoints and altitude changes in airspace controlled by three facilities . Those facilities were the Los Angeles and Oakland Air Route Traffic Control Centers , and the High Desert TRACON at Edwards Air Force Base . Simultaneously , there was an outage of the Federal Telecommunications Infrastructure , a primary conduit of information among FAA facilities . `` That ( U-2 ) flight plan , coupled with the FTI outage , in essence created a perfect storm , '' one official said . The U.S. Air Force has 32 U-2 aircraft , which are capable of flying at altitudes up to 90,000 feet , according to IHS Jane 's . U.S. stealth and spy planes . The fact the plane was a U-2 was not significant , one FAA official said . But the plane 's many waypoints , or geographic fixes , and its numerous altitude changes overwhelmed a system that projects the flights path and anticipates problems . The situation was complicated by the FTI outage , one official said . That overtaxed the FAA 's flight-processing system , which in turn brought down the FAA 's new En Route Automation Modernization system , which manages high-altitude air traffic . The FAA official likened it to a problem with a software program causing a laptop computer to crash .
An FAA computer system misinterpreted a spy plane 's altitude and path . The U-2 's many flight changes overtaxed system , eventually led to a ground stop . Flights , especially to Southern California , were delayed and diverted . Comment: