Vip News : Computer glitch forces NATS to ground flights

LONDON - A minor glitch in the air traffic control computer system saw thousands of passengers stranded at various places across the UK as flights were delayed in airports. The fault was detected at 0930 BST when the system went down at the West Drayton-based NATS’ Flight Data Processing (FDP) system.

The system was restored at 0950BST, but National Air Traffic Services (NATS) admitted that take-offs were restricted during the time prompting delays. A NATS spokeswoman said that they were working towards clearing the backlog, but there were bound to be some delays in the meantime. She added that safety was not affected as a result of these forced delays. Another fault, which has been detected at the air traffic control centre in Holland, could cause more delays, though it is unrelated to the NATS' problem.

The NATS' Flight Data Processing (FDP) system is responsible for producing the tracking information about every aircraft's height, route, destination and contact information. This data is then passed on to the air traffic controllers who can direct planes in an efficient manner.

Because of the system crash, this work was being done manually which takes more time and hence the delays. However NATS stressed, "Throughout the period, NATS controllers were able to operate normally using radar and radio systems which were unaffected." Around a 100 flights were grounded at the Heathrow airport, but NATS is advising passengers to check in normally. "A small number of flights were delayed by more than an hour, but the average delay to flights by the end of the day is expected to be about 10 minutes," said a NATS spokeswoman.

A similar fault at the West Drayton center had left 200,000 passengers stranded across the country in June last year. Commenting on the latest glitch, Ian Hall, director of operations at NATS said, "We sincerely apologize to those who have been inconvenienced this morning. We did everything we could to restore the full air traffic control service as quickly as possible and minimize the delays and impact on the day's schedules."

Posted on : Thu, 25 Aug 2005 21:55 GMT | General News
By : Chris Rowe