Swannick down again

[Speedpig]

Swanwick has suffered computer failure again at 0840L.

Back at 0905L after reboot but obvious disruption to follow.


Edited to correct finger slip.... I spelled or spelt it correctly 3 times in my log.
I have no excuse. I'm really sorry.
At least it generated a reaction.
SP

[lobby]

I think you will find it is spelt "Swanwick"!

[Speedpig]

Thankyou for the spell check. It still went down.

[African Tech Rep]

Would that be both of them that went down ??? ;)

[RVR800]

Yes but if if the spellchecker had worked it still would have shown

Swan Nick

:eek:

[PPRuNe Radar]

Swanwick didn't 'go down' nor suffer a computer failure. The effect was probably the same though !! Amazing how some on this site have the temerity to criticise journos for getting it wrong when many in our own industry do exactly the same on a regular basis ;)

From the NATS website:

At (0820) this morning, NATS identified a fault with the link between the Flight Data Processing System (FDPS) at West Drayton and the operations room at the London Area Control Centre at Swanwick. NATS engineers had restored the system by 0855.

At this stage, the cause of the fault is being investigated.

To maintain safety, NATS imposed some temporary restrictions on the number of aircraft entering UK airspace and those taking off from major UK airports. These are now being progressively lifted.

NATS wants to stress that safety standards have been maintained but regrets any inconvenience that may have caused to travellers.

More information will be published as soon as it becomes available.

[G-CPTN]

>I think you will find it is spelt "Swanwick"!

**********************************

Is it 'spelt' or 'spelled' ?

[lobby]

OK, you got me !

[Doctor Cruces]

By whatever criteria you chose, the computer was broken and it didn't work.....again. The system was "down" and not working to capacity, although not entirely "out" as it usually is.

As for spelingz, what with WOBUN, REDFA, LANAK et al. I think Swannick is OK, or should that perhaps be SANIK?

Doc C

[African Tech Rep]

"Is it 'spelt' or 'spelled' ?"

First glance = spelt of course. Don't like being corrected so looked it up and it seems us that were taught English would say spelt but those who were taught Simplified English, aka American, would say "spelled".

OK - yes boring day - off to paint house – must get life one day

[5711N0205W]

computer was broken and it didn't work.....again.

A matter of semantics I know as the effect is the same but it apparently was not the computer system but the link.

At (0820) this morning, NATS identified a fault with the link

To be simplistic the link is probably analagous with the phone line between the two parts of the system. Usually a business critical system will have a redundant backup (and this one probably does). You can get situations where the link can appear good (carrier is present) but the data is not transferring although error checking should flag this quickly then switch to backup. Obviously if the backup fails as well then......

[G-CPTN]

>Obviously if the backup fails as well then......

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Houston - we have a problem . . .

(Can you hear me Major Tom?)

[Avman]

PPRuNe Radar, and since when is the NATS website accurate? Management propaganda machine more like :E

For instance: To maintain safety, NATS imposed some temporary restrictions on the number of aircraft entering UK airspace and those taking off from major UK airports. These are now being progressively lifted. This was in fact a ZERO rate! Fortunately, it didn't last too long. And the Swanwick people themselves informed us that it was a "computer failure". ;)

[Spuds McKenzie]

About one month ago both Swanwick and Maastricht had some sort of failure.
This brings this SES (Single European Sky) babble to mind:

Imagine one of those "Supercenters" went blank. Zero rate over half of Europe!
Time to rethink in Brussels I'd say.

[under_exposed]

OK, my turn.

To be simplistic the link is probably analagous with the phone line between the two parts of the system
But phone lines pass through exchanges, for data links these are hubs and switches which are usually computer based.

[Tonkatoy]

actually data links that extend beyond buildings are a lot more like phone lines than anything you'll find in the building.

Surely the small matter of a telecoms failure didn't bring NATS down?

[haughtney1]

If condoms had the same failure rate as Swanick..(whatever the spelling)..Id have 6 kids by now:hmm:

Over budget, over valued, under engineered, under performing IMHO...(the system..not the professionals who run it)

(and no spelling isnt a strong suit)

[Roger That]

Over budget, over valued, under engineered, under performing IMHO...(

What should they do [within their means] then to meet your expectations :hmm: ?

[Wild Colonial Boy]

So how often has Shanwick failed in the past and how does this effect Atlantic traffic.

Just joking before yall clamber aboard your high horses!

[BDiONU]

It was NAS that 'failed' not Swanwick. NAS suffered 3 startovers in rapid succession and to protect BOTH systems the link to Swanwick is dropped.
When Swanwick is operating in manual mode (without NAS) you MUST impose a zero flow rate until such time as you've sorted out the traffic and got some idea of exactly what the situation is. Its not a terribly good idea from a safety and an ATC viewpoint to allow flights to continue to enter your airspace when your capacity has been severely cut.

AFAIK since it has opened the Swanwick System has only 'failed' once, a problem with bandboxing and splitting. Every other purported failure of Swanwick has been down to NAS.

BD

[haughtney1]

Ummm rodger..not go "down"...so to speak.
(although thats not a bad thing in another context:p )

[EGCC Rwy 24]

Sorry guys, couldn't resist going once more round the block:

So how often has Shanwick failed in the past and how does this effect Atlantic traffic

I don't think ATC failure will effect Atlantic traffic. Atlantic traffic is effected by drivers coaxing their tin tubes into the sky and steering them over the sea.

Atlantic traffic might be affected by ATC problems though.

:-)

www.reportingpoints.info
www.englishniggles.org

[Mr Chips]

Hmmm.. I may have left.. but ....

3 startovers in short succession is NOT a major problem, just a headache for ATSAs as they will need to check inputs, redo messages etc. When we first trained with the Swanwick fallback systems we queried the link fail scenario. the link is dropped to protect the data at SWANWICKs end. NAS is unaffected, and all other NAS connected units can operate normally, once the startovers are resolved.

The issue here is the way that Swanwick interfaces with NAS.

Zero rates were unheard of in all the time that I was operational - right up until that shiny new centre opened...

[GotTheTshirt]

Girls!

The SYTEM failed !
Does it matter if its the modem line, the band box, or the cleaning lady pulling the plug out !

The SYSTEM should have the back up to overcome these minor irritations:cool:

[VectorLine]

BDIONU
AFAIK since it has opened the Swanwick System has only 'failed' once, a problem with bandboxing and splitting. Every other purported failure of Swanwick has been down to NAS.
Twice I think. Both bandbox/splitting problems but for different reasons. Most recent reseon was telephone panel related.

VL