Originally Posted by
JRBarrett
Airports typically have fast transfer backup generation for all safety-critical functions - ATC facilities, runway lighting, navaids etc. Terminal facilities may not be on that system - especially a terminal complex as large as Atlanta, which probably draws an extremely large amount of power from the grid under normal circumstances. Fire codes would require the buildings to be equipped with emergency lighting, but that is probably all the backup that exists in the terminals.
You are right - this is not a 'snafu' this is a really major engineering design failure. There was obviously a single point of failure for the entire Atlanta airport complex this is a fundamental of system design. From reports there was a fire in an 'underground Georgia Power facility' at the airport that had to be extinguished then Georgia Power staff get in there to repair the equipment before power was restored. It appears that the one facility was the switch gear between power possibly standby power and grid power (possibly more than one grid). As it was Sunday I would surmise that a 'routine' maintenance or swap over of power supplies went wrong. Leading to an electrical fire.
It is unforgivable for each concourse not to have individual back up power, the 'plane train' to have its own back up power each runway lighting set could have backup power and each ground facility such as ILS localizer/glidepath etc. The backup power for the concourses should be enough to run sufficient emergency lights and systems to run the operation normally but perhaps with the loss of heavy non-essential drains like kitchen power to restaurants. This is undergraduate level engineering for a major airport.
This is not something that happened last Sunday; it is a failure that has been waiting to happen for years. Delta as the main operator should request (demand?) a full audit of all essential systems to ensure that there are no other 'single points of failure'. You would have thought that Delta would have learned a lesson from their systems going down due to a similar single point of failure in power supply to primary and backup computer systems.