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Computer Error Grounds Flights In the UK

Posted by Soulskill on from the tripping-over-the-power-cord dept.

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.

9 of 68 comments (clear)

  1. "Computer" failure? by scott.todd · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Every time I see those words, I want to know what OS.

    --
    Tea may be good but coffee is not tea.
    1. Re:"Computer" failure? by Tx · · Score: 4, Informative

      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.
    2. Re:"Computer" failure? by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Must be the OS?

      All of those are valid points.

      However, some of us are old enough to remember stuff like this:

      The Navy's Smart Ship technology may not be as smart as the service contends.

      Although PCs have reduced workloads for sailors aboard the Aegis missile cruiser USS
      Yorktown, software glitches resulted in system failures and crippled ship operations,
      according to Navy officials.

      Navy brass have called the Yorktown Smart Ship pilot a success in reducing manpower,
      maintenance and costs. The Navy began running shipboard applications under Microsoft
      Windows NT so that fewer sailors would be needed to control key ship functions.

      But the Navy last fall learned a difficult lesson about automation: The very
      information technology on which the ships depend also makes them vulnerable. The Yorktown
      last September suffered a systems failure when bad data was fed into its computers during
      maneuvers off the coast of Cape Charles, Va.

      Call it a well earned cynicism.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    3. Re:"Computer" failure? by Noah+Haders · · Score: 5, Funny

      sounds like we need a war on errorism.

  2. CNN reported it was a power problem by david.emery · · Score: 3, Interesting

    And anecdotally, it seems many, if not most, of the ATC failures I remember hearing about in the US have also been power problems. These are kinda hard to test, as I wrote to a friend, "The on-duty ATC controllers get irate when you 'pull the big power plug' on their shift."

    Usually failures like these are chains of events, e.g. "UPS ran out of batteries more rapidly than expected, and then we couldn't get the generators started."

    Power problems are what doomed Fukushima, too, by the way.

    1. Re:CNN reported it was a power problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      According to the summary they were using a computer glitch to co-ordinate the flights. I suppose that the power problem fixed the glitch and broke flight planning?

    2. Re:CNN reported it was a power problem by david.emery · · Score: 3, Informative

      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."

  3. Another move from North Korea? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Villain Kim Jong Un makes his next move with his team of super-hackers.

  4. systemd? by LocutusOfBorg1 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I guess they just switched to systemd. :-)