Crowdstrike outage affects local airport

APPLETON, WI – (WGBW & WISS) – The Crowdstrike outage that grounded flights, caused media disruptions worldwide and caused headaches for companies running Microsoft cloud-based services impacted local airports as well.

The outage affected all airlines out of Appleton International Airport (ATW according to Jesse Funk. Commercial flights with United, Allegiant, Delta, and American, are affected.

“It is affecting the airport. The FAA has gone into a ground stop. We have a few flights that are departing. But, for the most part, we’re telling people to check with their airline. We’ve seen some cancellations already, and others delayed,” said Funk.

Funk added that the Crowdstrike outage that is affecting computers worldwide is NOT affecting EAA AirVenture traffic to the Appleton airport.

“The control tower is unaffected by the outage. So, the airfield is still open here,” said Funk. “The FAA went into a ground stop for the commercial aviation. We are still accepting planes for EAA.” 

In addition to airlines, Visa, Amazon, ADT security, and dozens of other companies are affected. In some places, 911 lines are even down. 

WLUK, Fox 11 news is reporting that the sheriff’s office, courts and other county departments have been affected by the outage. While the Outagamie County offices remain open, services may be limited. Calls to Outagamie County and the Sheriff’s office have not yet been returned.

Lara Vendola-Messer, Captain of Communications for Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office, said there have been no interruptions to service. 

“We’re good. Our 9-1-1 system is good,” said Vendola. “Our system is backed by AT&T, and AT&T is not affected by this one.” 

A flawed security update by Crowdstrike caused the outage. The company said they have released a fix for the update that caused the disruptions.