Kind of a misleading headline. U-2s have been flying over Southern California at over 60k feet for 50 years (that is, after all, where they're based), and ther

Kind of a misleading headline. U-2s have been flying over Southern California at over 60k feet for 50 years (that is, after all, where they're based), and there are other more modern planes that also routinely fly at that altitude. If we're pointing fingers, the new ERAM system that was just installed (in December, I believe) in the LA ATC is a more likely culprit, although even that isn't likely the whole story; this can't be the first high flying plane in the last 6 months. So, more likely an edge case that took 6 months to crop up, or maybe a new bug caused by a recent patch. But as the article notes, the FAA isn't talking, so we still don't know. "U-2 spy plane caused widespread shutdown of U.S. flights" is a cool headline, but an accurate one would be "We still aren't sure why new computer system caused widespread shutdown of U.S. flights".