Slashdot Mirror
Computer Error Grounds Flights In the UK
Rambo Tribble writes: Reuters reports that flights from Heathrow, Gatwick, and many other airports have been shut down "due to a computer failure." The information comes from European air traffic control body Eurocontrol. No official word as yet as to the nature of the failure. "One source told the BBC the problem was caused by a computer glitch that co-ordinates the flights coming into London and puts the flights in sequence as they come into land or take off. He described it as a 'flight planning tool problem.'" Incoming flights are still being accommodated.
The Register is reporting that it's actually a power failure, apparently according to a Heathrow Airport spokesperson.
“There is a power outage at the NATS control centre in Swanwick, which is affecting UK airspace. Flights are currently experiencing delays and we will update passengers as soon as we have more information," said a spokesman from Heathrow as the effects of the outage spread.
You'd think that such systems would have fully redundant power supply infrastructure though, so maybe that's misinformation.
Oh no... it's the future.
You'd think that such systems would have fully redundant power supply infrastructure though, so maybe that's misinformation.
Redundancy isn't failproof. The railroad here has complete redundancy in the signal controls, yet they had a signal blackout anyway. The actual computer worked, but the backup failed and then the redundancy controller started acting funny due to undefined inputs. They ended up making the working computer bypassing the redundancy system and restart all trains, but missing the backup computer to confirm data, they switched to a reduced train schedule (they never really explained why). That lasted for 4 days until the entire system was back to normal. They ended up saying it was due to faulty voltage and too high current, hence a power supply issue.
Also once years ago they managed to crash both the main computer and the backup at the same time. Statistically that should happen once every 11k years or so.
Yeah redundancy is good and it avoids service interruptions for most failures, but even the best system can fail.
The pumps lost power after the backup systems failed (ran out of battery, and the generators were knocked out), and that's what caused the reactors to overheat and meltdown. If power had been retained to the pumps, the major problems would have been averted.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
"The switching stations that provided power from the three backup generators located higher on the hillside failed when the building that housed them flooded.[68] Power for control systems switched over to batteries that were designed to last about eight hours.[102] Further batteries and mobile generators were dispatched to the site. They were delayed by poor road conditions and the first arrived only at 21:00 11 March,[95][103] almost six hours after the tsunami."