Departing flights suspended for four minutes - RTHK
Departing flights suspended for four minutes 2016-12-12 HKT 22:08
More problems with Hong Kong's air traffic control system resulted in departing flights being delayed by four minutes on Monday.
In a detailed, yet unclear statement, the Civil Aviation Department said radar screens failed to display flight information such as call signs and flight speed for about 75 seconds. It said the situation was similar to an incident on November 29, but this time the data was not available for a longer period.
But the CAD said air traffic controllers were able to get information on flights because the department had brought in extra technology - known as ADS-B - which had been in use since last Thursday, and was operating on another screen.
It said the system's contractor, Raytheon, put the problem down to the way the system prioritised data during maintenance. It said the retrieval and archiving of data had priority for a short period of time, and this lead to a delay in flight data appearing on the screens.
The CAD said the problem was not caused by staff failing to follow new instructions, as originally thought.
The department said flight safety was not compromised. It said controllers were still able to monitor flights.
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Last updated: 2016-12-13 HKT 05:53