Nobody who works at EGBB has confirmed whether the code/callsign database for the radar was still available, they could easily have lost ALL flight data, we just do not know.
Exactly! Too many posters are jumping to (possibly) the wrong conclusions about the exact status of the radar at the time. All I'm saying is that the controllers were not to blame.
Why would there be a midair over Birmingham? The radar hadn’t failed.
If the software which feeds all the flight data to the radar fails, there might well be no altitude information available. It only takes one aircraft to mishear a clearance and bust a cleared altitude.
where I worked, there was a manual backup, failures required a "stop" at first and a gradual recovery as we reverted to pen and paper.
Too true. Where I worked we had a very sophisticated back-up (costing $$$$$) but, depending on the type of failure with the main software, it still required an initial zero rate to be immediately imposed until such a time it was safe enough to accept traffic again, albeit at a reduced rate with the stand-by system.
Really. Well, their already getting screwed by all other sorts of climate gubbins, I guess actually getting to their destination for another fiver would be seen as a BONUS!
Fully agree. However, you and I may be the only ones who think that way!!! The vast majority of today's passengers only want CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP and then moan like hell when thinks go t*ts up.