Computer problems ground (British) planes

[Newsjock]

Edit to change title to match story that just moved. Thanks to white_rider for link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/3772059.stm

Flights at UK airports - including Bristol International - were suspended for several hours on Thursday.

A computer failure at Swanwick was identified as the problem, and the air traffic control centre closed.

The system was back up by 0700 BST, Bristol Airport said, although some planes had already been delayed.

Here's what happened prior to that story moving:
Just reported at the top of the hour. Looking for a link.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/
Now there's a scrolling alert on their main page:
"All UK flights suspended after air traffic control computer problems."

More: hastily transcribed from tv:
"Major air traffic control problems have forced the suspension of all flights out of the united kingdom."
Planes allowed to land at heathrow and gatwick, not allowed to take off.
Planes in the air must land now.

More: Story from AP wire
LONDON - A computer failure at Britain's main air traffic control center grounded many of the country's flights Thursday morning, British Airways said.

A spokeswoman said the computer at the National Air Traffic Service in Swanwick, southern England, went down at about 6 a.m. (0600 GMT).

British media reported that several airports had suspended all domestic and international takeoffs.

The air traffic service was not immediately available for comment.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. That would not do it...

this could be MAJOR.

I'll look at Reuters and AP

[NMDemDist2]

2. again?? first LAX then KC then Denver

now the UK?? what;s up around here??

[bobthedrummer]

3. Oh, oh...

BBC scroll reporting it's due to air traffic control computer glitch

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Now FlIGHTS at MULTIPLE

airports have been cancelled?

Ok, call me cynical but even Windows does not crash that badly.

Something's up...

[Pale_Rider]

6. Just reported ...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/3772059.stm

Computer problems ground planes

Flights at UK airports - including Bristol International - were suspended for several hours on Thursday.
A computer failure at Swanwick was identified as the problem, and the air traffic control centre closed.

The system was back up by 0700 BST, Bristol Airport said, although some planes had already been delayed.

Rachal Rogers, manager at Bristol International, said: "We advise passengers to check in as normal and to contact the airline directly."

Tom Hack, operations manager, told the BBC that flights should be moving from 0730 BST at the airport on Thursday.

[Pale_Rider]

5. Probably nothing more than computer problems .... though ...

... there was a bomb threat on a London bound jet today.

http://tinyurl.com/2sn4z

Jet searched after bomb threat Jun 2 2004
A London bound jet was searched at Boston airport after officials received a phoned bomb threat against two American Airlines flights.

Airliners about to take off from Philadelphia and Boston were searched.

Philadelphia International Airport officials evacuated 19 passengers from American Airlines Flight 4543, airport spokesman Mark Pesce said.

Pesce said the passengers were rescreened while the plane was searched. Nothing was found, he said, but flight to Boston was cancelled.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. Connect dots

Bomb Threat, computer failure... they are connected and
this is one way of hiding one from the other.

They are counting on most people not connecting dots

Now what is highly unusual is closing the whole air space...

[Pert_UK]

10. And today's paranoia award goes to.......

They've not closed any airspace. You obviously failed to spot that all incoming flights were landing as normal. It was only takeoffs that were delayed due to problems with the scheduling system.

Relax - it's not all a conspiracy.

P.

[rooboy]

7. Unless their computer systems have been updated in the last few years...

this doesn't surprise me one bit. There wouldn't be a pc in Britain which is as old or crappy as the ATC computer systems in many countries.

[Pert_UK]

9. OK - here's the story as reported on BBC Radio 4 news....

There are NO safety implications of this. The radar system was working fine and there were no problems keeping planes apart. This is controlled by a massive (hugely overbudget, 6 year delayed) system that went live a few years ago.

The problem is with a far older computer system that tracks which plane is which for scheduling purposes. That went down, meaning that controllers had to go back to the old "paper" method of scheduling flights against each other.

The system is due to be replaced or upgraded later this year and they'd been doing overnight testing of the new kit. Unfortunately when they tried to revert to the old kit to run the flight management today, it fell over and died.

It's actually very believable that this is how it happened, so I don't think that conspiracy theories are necessary for the moment.

P.

[Spentastic]

11. Privatisation works

Bastards. NATS has been a fucking disaster for everyone apart from those that own it.

Tony Blair and the idiot crew just love selling stuff they don't own.

[Pert_UK]

12. Yes indeedy doody.......

It's lovely to have an efficient rail, phone, power, NATS and postal service isn't it?

Utter tossers.

Shouldn't you be working Mr J?

[Spentastic]

13. Yeah

But I don't want to. I'm using the 80 /20 rule that managers here seem so keen on. I waste 80% of my day and concentrate for 20%.

If it's good enough for them it's good enough for me.