Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Computer Failure Disrupts British Air Traffic Control Systems

Posted by timothy on from the fly-safely-up-there dept.

judgecorp writes "Air travel in the UK is facing disruption today, after a computer failure at the national air traffic control body, NATS. There aren't many details at this stage, but flights in and out of Heathrow and Gatwick are subject to delay, and there are fewer flights over the South of England."

35 comments

  1. It must be the work of teh terrorists. by Cornwallis · · Score: 2

    Quick. Lock everything down.

    1. Re:It must be the work of teh terrorists. by FriendlyLurker · · Score: 2

      It must be the work of teh terrorists.... Quick. Lock everything down.

      and in their next breath, "See! We (as in the UK and Sweden) were right to veto democratic investigation and talk about the facts surrounding our illegal spy regimes.". How the hell can they veto such a thing and keep a straight face? It is as if all pretense of democratic freedom has been lost....

    2. Re:It must be the work of teh terrorists. by Thanshin · · Score: 1

      The terrorist attack reaction procedure must be launched!

      Quickly! Kill some random guy in the underground! There's no time to lose or teh tarrorists win!

    3. Re:It must be the work of teh terrorists. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Well I think Godwin was a Nazi.

    4. Re:It must be the work of teh terrorists. by Cornwallis · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Ray Bradbury was prescient when he included the following in Fahrenheit 451:

      "Montag is able to watch the Hound track him by glancing through people’s house windows into their TV parlors. Literally everybody is watching the televised chase. Montag sees the Hound hesitate when it gets to Faber’s house, but it quickly runs on. As Montag continues to run toward the river, he hears an announcement on his Seashell radio telling everyone to get up and look out their doors and windows for him on the count of ten. He reaches the river just as the announcer counts to ten and all the doors in the neighborhood start to open. To keep the Hound from picking up his scent, he wades into the river and drifts away with the current. He avoids the searchlights of the police helicopters, and then sees them turn and fly away. He washes ashore in the countryside. Stepping out of the river, he is overwhelmed by the sights, sounds, and smells of nature. He finds the railroad track and follows it. As he walks, he senses strongly that Clarisse once walked there, too.

      "The track leads him to a fire with five men sitting around it. The leader of the men sees him in the shadows and invites him to join them, introducing himself as Granger. Granger reveals a portable TV set and tells him that they have been watching the chase and expecting him to come. The men at the fire, though homeless, are surprisingly neat and clean, and have considerable technology. Granger gives Montag a bottle of colorless fluid to drink and explains that it will change the chemical index of his perspiration so the Hound will not be able to find him. Granger tells him the search has continued in the opposite direction and that the police will be looking for a scapegoat to save themselves from the humiliation of losing their prey. The men gather around the TV to watch as the camera zooms in on a man walking down the street, smoking a cigarette. The announcer identifies this man as Montag. The Hound appears and pounces on him, and the announcer declares that Montag is dead and a crime against society has been avenged. The homeless men reflect that the police probably chose the man to be their scapegoat because of his habit of walking by himself—clearly a dangerous and antisocial habit."

    5. Re:It must be the work of teh terrorists. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So are most of the western governments these days.

    6. Re:It must be the work of teh terrorists. by fair_n_hite_451 · · Score: 1

      That book. So good, so chilling...

      --
      Reason why there is hope for the future generation #364:
      "I wish my grass was emo so it could cut itself."
    7. Re:It must be the work of teh terrorists. by scuzzlebutt · · Score: 1

      I see what you did there. Wish I had mod points!

      --
      In C++, your friends can see your privates.
  2. Someone by JustOK · · Score: 1

    Someone should be thrown in gaol for this.

    --
    rewriting history since 2109
    1. Re:Someone by RaceProUK · · Score: 1

      Care to volunteer? :P

      --
      No colour or religion ever stopped the bullet from a gun
    2. Re:Someone by JustOK · · Score: 2

      Only the guilty would try to get someone else thrown in prison.

      --
      rewriting history since 2109
    3. Re:Someone by RaceProUK · · Score: 1

      You mean you agree someone should be thrown in jail because a few flights got delayed?

      --
      No colour or religion ever stopped the bullet from a gun
  3. The Chinese strike again ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    also APT.

  4. Britain really isn't coming across well today by 91degrees · · Score: 2

    We have the post office screwing people out of money due to a computer glitch, secret trials and now it looks like we can't even run Air Traffic Control.

    Can we have a post about Andy Murray or something? I want to feel good about my country.

    1. Re:Britain really isn't coming across well today by NatasRevol · · Score: 2

      Andy Murray used performance enhancing drugs.

      --
      There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
  5. NATS BUGS by Grindalf · · Score: 2

    I'll bet it's a typo in the code and everyone thinks it's Anonymous' finest hour ...

    --
    The purpose of existence is to make money.
    1. Re:NATS BUGS by Grindalf · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yes, a typo, but not in the code, in the data:- “The problem was apparently caused by a "rogue flight plan", resolved by a re-boot of the computer system at Nats' Swanwick, Southampton, control centre.” See: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23241791 Fascinating!

      --
      The purpose of existence is to make money.
    2. Re:NATS BUGS by pesho · · Score: 2

      This must be Robert';) DROP TABLE flights; filing his first flight plan.

  6. A new phrase born? by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

    Our software has gone NATS!

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  7. Re:wep6.com by Thanshin · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    If your friend's sister has been fired for seven months and is now making 77$/hour; how many days will your sister need to reach the top of the well?

    (Assume a spherical and frictionless sister.)

  8. May well be up and running now. by auric_dude · · Score: 3, Informative

    http://www.flightradar24.com/

  9. I hope it wasn't my fault by SimonInOz · · Score: 4, Funny

    I was involved in writing part of that radar system, back in 1978. I hope they aren't still running my code. There was a lot of drinking back then.
    Mind you, maybe they should, it worked then, didn't it?

    --
    "Cats like plain crisps"
  10. We have resolved this issue. by nimbius · · Score: 4, Informative
    From the article:

    UPDATE: NATS has claimed to have now fixed the problem. “NATS has identified and corrected the technical problem that has been affecting air traffic control systems in the south of England,” its latest statement read. “Operations are now returning to normal and we are working with the airports, airlines and Eurocontrol to clear the backlog of flights to ensure disruption is kept to a minimum. “Outbound delays from the UK have generally been limited to 20 minutes.”

    on an unrelated note: Dennis is no longer allowed to sit in the control room while quaffing his morning cuppa.
    Regards,
    NATS operations management team

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
    1. Re:We have resolved this issue. by xaxa · · Score: 2

      From the article:

      Outbound delays from the UK have generally been limited to 20 minutes.”

      A 20-minute delay to flights to the UK makes international news? Beat that, Switzerland and Japan.

      I haven't been this proud of my country for a long time!

  11. Computer says no by marvin · · Score: 3, Funny

    Computer says "NO"

  12. Re:wep6.com by Chrisq · · Score: 2

    my friend's sister makes $77 hourly on the computer.

    I hear she makes $50 an hour on the kitchen table and $90 an hour on the bed too.

  13. When will they understand by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Another NAT issue! None of this would have happened if they made the move to IPv6 at once.

  14. Not many details available at present... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But that never gets in the way of uninformed comment, does it!

    Here's what the BBC says as of 14:46 BST

    Things are now back to "normal", with no other consequences than delays caused by switching to manual handling rules (mainly increasing aircraft separation), that reduced the number of flights in UK airspace for the time the system was unavailable. They're claiming it was due to a "rogue flight plan" that required the rebooting of the entire system. Must be running on Win Me.... ;-)

    btw the BBC report illustrates with a pic of a controller apparently monitoring traffic over NW England, which wasn't particularly affected by the outage!

    1. Re:Not many details available at present... by PPH · · Score: 1

      rogue flight plan

      Someone requested an on-time landing slot at LHR.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
  15. Oblig. by PPH · · Score: 1

    Airplane! scene.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  16. Windows 8 by skaag · · Score: 1

    Guess they should have waited a bit before upgrading...

    --

    All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain... time... to... die...

    1. Re:Windows 8 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Have they tried switching it off and on?

  17. FLT by wigyori · · Score: 1

    Rogue flightplan?

    Destination airport: '); drop table flightplans;

    Rgds,
    -w-