Slashdot Mirror
Computer Error Grounds Japanese Flights
zephiros writes "Mainichi Daily News reports that a "computer glitch" in Tokyo air traffic control systems resulted in the cancellation of 203 flights this weekend. At 7am Saturday, the error "caused the names of airlines and flight numbers to disappear from radar screens." A Japan Times article suggests the problem may be related to upgrades on a system which exchanges flight plans with the Defense Agency. Makes one wonder about the integration and maintenance risks of systems like CAPPS II."
Does that seem like flaimbait to anyone else? Computers crash all the time, granted steps can be taken to ensure redundancy, but this is nothing new. This problem has nothing to do with the CAPPS II system other than the fact that they are both computerized systems, I'm not trying to defend CAPPS II, I just don't think that it is any way related to this this tokyo airlines problem. Computers crash, it's a fact of life, the real question here, is why weren't there multiple redundancies in place for such a mission critical application.
I would expect such blatant racism on Fark, but on Slashdot? Mods please ban this asshole.
Read the article. It says that just the airline name and flightnumber tags printed beside the radar blips vanished. The radar worked just fine.
> 2) Whose bright idea was it to do a "systems upgrade" while there were large, flying metal objects carrying many people still in the air?!?!
Read the article. The change was made early in the morning on a weekend. When would you suggest?
> Wouldn't you do a test run, install it on a backup system, or one that's not systems-critical?
The article (did you read it?) hints that might have been a networking problem when they integrated the military database with the civilian database. A backup system is a good first start, but isn't always the same as the production system. Network problems can't always be perfectly tested or simulated.
I think it's obviously Y2K related. Civilization as we know it should be coming to an end in a week or so.
I am NOT a man!
I am a free number!
Was it computer that failed some operation or lousy programmer who made a mistake in the program?
I am sick of people complaining abour "computer errors" when they are at fault.
At 7am Saturday, the error "caused the names of airlines and flight numbers to disappear from radar screens."
I'm guessing there was an article posted yesterday on Slashdot that linked directly to their system.
First, people need to understand that no Bad Things will happen if an ATC system goes offline while planes are under it's jurisdiction. ICAO member countries (and most nations for that matter) have strong procedural rules in place that keep planes separated without the help of radar. This is espcially true in the enroute case. (Area control centres handle overflight and enroute traffic. Eveyone is separated by at least 1000' vertical and 3 miles horizontal at all times. The altitude restrictions and clearances that each pilot receives are chosen specifically so that in the even of loss of communications, the pilot can continue to his "clearance limit" without any problem. Well, you ask, what happens when he gets to his clearance limit and still isn't communicating with air traffic control? They hold. This is all laid our quite clearly. These rules have been around since before RADAR because thats the way it was done.
Just take a look at the RADAR coverage map of Canada (one is visible at the link above). There are lots of places that don't even HAVE radar coverage.
The old tried and true clearance and time/speed based conflict resolutions works and works well.
Secondly, and more imporatantly, there really isn't any news in this article. It's scaremongering. This happens all the time. It's an inconvenience, but rarely a saftey concern.
For those who asked about it; yes, typically a new system is run in parallel with the legacy system for a period of time (sometimes 24 months) before it is used as the primary control. Notice that the old system is live and the new system is shadowing. That way, anomalies that are found do not impact any flights.
[*flame proof underwear on*]
Is it just me, or does the press dig around for 'news' in about as diligent a manner as Slashdot?