Aging equipment causing Air Traffic Control problems
Here's another article illustrating how poorly the FAA manages a critical infrastructure component. Can we trust them to get things ready for Y2K on time?
computerworld.com
Controllers had warned of air traffic snafu
[...]
With about 350 aircraft in the sky, the Boston Center lost critical
flight-tracking information -- including altitude, air speed, flight
numbers and destinations -- when its aging host computer, an IBM
3083 built in the early 1980s, failed, said William Johannes, local
president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.
Some radar screens went completely blank, Johannes said. "There's
some chaos, but we're trained to handle emergency situations," he
said. A backup system kicked in, providing radar blips and airplanes'
transponder codes. Aircraft were asked to identify themselves, and
controllers re-entered information so they could track traffic.
[...] |
