Human Error Blamed in Air Traffic Breakdown (S. CA)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-091504faaerror_lat,1,4508493,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Two separate human errors caused the breakdown in radio communications that brought Southern California's major airports to a near stop Tuesday, Federal Aviation Administration officials said today.

The system that failed — a high-tech touch screen tool that allows air traffic controllers to quickly communicate with planes in transit — shut itself down at the Palmdale communications center shortly after 4:30 p.m. Tuesday after a worker did not complete required monthly maintenance.

Then, the backup system failed to work because technicians had rigged it improperly, FAA officials said.

<snip>

Air traffic controllers union officials contended that the system failure — which allowed its members in Palmdale to see the planes on their screens but not reach them by radio — caused two near misses of airplanes. But officials from at least one of the airlines the controllers say was involved, Northwest, said it knew of no problems with its Flight 277, a plane bound to Orange County from Detroit.

<snip>

"What happened is that every 49.7 days, a counter has to be reset on that system," said Ray Baggett, a vice president of PASS. "If it isn't, the system will shut down. A PASS technician is supposed to reset it. The guy on duty hadn't been properly trained on the system. He apparently missed that step."

[SpiralHawk]

1. That's right: George aWol Bush is not responsible for this

He is not responsible for youthful cocaine use.
He is not responsible for Deserting the National Guard.
He is not responsible for failing on 9/11.
He is not responsible for WMD lies.
He is not responsible for the over 1,000 dead US soldiers.
He is not responsible the astronomical gas prices.
And he is not responsible for air traffic problems.

It is all Bill Clinton's fault.

So move along.

[Carla in Ca]

3. Yeah, heard freeper say again this morning

that * inherited a recession..I hate that!

Hopefully FAA will not allow that to happen again. My poor old dad was stuck in Phoenix for hours. Thanks again to all DUers who helped me last night.

[Jade Fox]

2. The real culprit? Ronald W. Reagan, yes Saint Ronnie.....

for busting the air-traffic controllers union in the 80's and forever
rendering air travel a lot less safe.

[mbperrin]

6. Yep, that's why I've never flown since.

And ain't gonna no more.

[GAspnes]

4. Thank Bill Gates for this one

SNMP SysUpTime Counter Resets After 49.7 Days

SYMPTOMS

When using SNMP to monitor sysuptime (system up time), the counter will be reset after 49.7 days or 4294967295 milliseconds.

CAUSE

MIB_II.MIB (RFC 1213) specifies sysUpTime as TimeTicks. SMI.MIB (RFC 1155) defines TimeTicks as having a max value for 4294967295. This is the number of milliseconds that this counter can hold. This also corresponds to about 50 days, this is why the counter resets back to 0.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows NT 4.0 or Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

[UpInArms]

5. our nation's infrastructure is crumbling

and this is but another symptom.

Billions for War, none for the upkeep and maintenance of our country.

http://www.house.gov/transportation/press/press2003/release143.html

Transportation Committee Leaders & Civil Engineers Highlight Need To Address Deterioration Of Nation’s Infrastructure;
Highways, Transit, Water & Energy Infrastructure Progress Report Shows Widespread Declines In Quality

Invest In Transportation Now Or Pay More Later In Lost Lives, Efficiency & Higher Costs

“The massive blackouts recently experienced here in the United States revealed the instability of our energy infrastructure, but unfortunately other elements of our infrastructure are equally unsound,” said U.S. Rep. Tom Petri (R-WI), Chairman of the Highways, Transit and Pipelines Subcommittee.

“32 percent of our major roads are in poor or mediocre condition and 28 percent of our bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.

“Nearly one-third of all fatal crashes each year are caused by substandard road conditions and roadside hazards.

“Congestion is affecting our quality of life and costing our nation $67 billion a year.

“We have two choices: pay a little now to provide a significant investment in our infrastructure, or pay much more later in lost lives, lost efficiency, and the greater costs that will be needed to repair a more deteriorated transportation system,” said Petri.

...more...

[mbperrin]

7. This must be some kinda Conspiracy Theory...

just put out another flag and everything will be all right!



.............right?

[UpInArms]

8. that "flag"

will it have a little tag on it that states "Made In China"?