Chaos in Scotland
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Chaos in Scotland
Just got home from a flight EGKK to EGPF held en-route due to total failure of comms and radar at the Scottish ATC centre. Anyone know anything about this?
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More info....
This was a planned power test that went horribly wrong!! The power to the Scottish Domestic operations room (and probably the Shanwick Oceanic Ops room) was completely lost, which resulted in loss of all main systems for about twenty minutes.
Only thing working was the secondary standby R/T system, which saved the day. Radar, phones, R/T and standby R/T all out for the duration. Not the most relaxing place to be at 2115 last night!!
Do airlines ever do power systems tests on aircraft when they are in flight with fare-paying passengers onboard????? - I think not!!!
Wings level, Ball in the puddle!
Only thing working was the secondary standby R/T system, which saved the day. Radar, phones, R/T and standby R/T all out for the duration. Not the most relaxing place to be at 2115 last night!!
Do airlines ever do power systems tests on aircraft when they are in flight with fare-paying passengers onboard????? - I think not!!!
Wings level, Ball in the puddle!
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Davey, you're brave announcing that to the world!!
Plus, chaos in Scotland, should be titled chaos over the whole of central England caused by some muppets decision somewhere!
How many supplies does the Scottish centre have anyway and what about the backup batteries?
Plus, chaos in Scotland, should be titled chaos over the whole of central England caused by some muppets decision somewhere!
How many supplies does the Scottish centre have anyway and what about the backup batteries?
Last edited by MancBoy; 14th Dec 2006 at 09:57.
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This was a planned power test that went horribly wrong!!
a. Never agree to a standby power supply test on your watch.
b. If you have no choice, insist that it takes place at 0300 on a Sunday morning.
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It's been kept rather quite down South....nothing on Natsnet, no gossip, nothing.....took a phone call from a narked ScATCC systems engineer to even know something had happened.
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aceatco, retired
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I saw the Scottish GM at CTC yesterday! I bet he went north sharpish!
This is the failure which is supposed never to happen. Because the OES cannot be relied upon, all NATS critical systems are supplied from uniterruptible power supplies. ie the OES keeps the batteries charged and they feed inverters which power the equipment for a certain length of time. This time is determined as being sufficient to safely clear the skies of all traffic in the event that the generators fail to start which would keep the batteries charged until the OES comes back.
Obviously something didn't work very well!
A I
This is the failure which is supposed never to happen. Because the OES cannot be relied upon, all NATS critical systems are supplied from uniterruptible power supplies. ie the OES keeps the batteries charged and they feed inverters which power the equipment for a certain length of time. This time is determined as being sufficient to safely clear the skies of all traffic in the event that the generators fail to start which would keep the batteries charged until the OES comes back.
Obviously something didn't work very well!
A I
Last edited by A I; 14th Dec 2006 at 18:39. Reason: Spelling mistake!!
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All hush-hush it would appear!
I think that radarspod has hit the nail on the head. The silence is deafening up north of the border. Nobody is even talking about it above shop floor level. Nothing on NATS intranet site, no "Well done chaps, back for tea and medals", nothing at all. How strange. Least said soonest mended??? 
Once again, I think not!!
Almost as quiet as the airwaves last evening!!
Wings level, ball in the puddle.
Once again, I think not!!Almost as quiet as the airwaves last evening!!
Wings level, ball in the puddle.
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As for the electronic strips thing, upon failure here we have dumped the Flight plan data base onto A4 paper, distributed relevent copies to each and every console and had our own A4 "strips"... This of course assumes the power to the printers/photo copiers and flight plan box is working.
I think the more that software gets a hold in our world, every 'upgrade' is considered a very hi risk; cause you never really know what the end result will be until it's switched back on.
