Problems at Swanwick?
Join Date: Sep 2012
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when i went for an interview there i was told that there is a training area that could be used for long term contingencies of some of the airpsace [they showed us lots of screens with nothing on them] and also a catastrophic disaster set up there all in the head off building complex so i am confused.this was told to me by a controller from the training school [lady].why is air traffic so confusing>>>>>>>?
lol rofl
lol rofl
Join Date: Dec 2013
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The problem seems to have been they couldn't switch in any extra panels. They had plenty of panels, without the training ones, but just couldn't use them.
Forget millions of lines of code. It only takes on byte, in the wrong place to cause such a problem.
(Finding it , among all the lines of code, that's the fun part).
Forget millions of lines of code. It only takes on byte, in the wrong place to cause such a problem.
(Finding it , among all the lines of code, that's the fun part).
Join Date: Dec 2013
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Now that the service has been restored the inquest will be under way.
If I was in charge of NATS I would want to know;
what triggered the initial failure of the telephone system and its backup?
given that a hard reboot and/or a software reload cures the vast majority of system failures why did it take so long to restore this particular critical system?
If I was in charge of NATS I would want to know;
what triggered the initial failure of the telephone system and its backup?
given that a hard reboot and/or a software reload cures the vast majority of system failures why did it take so long to restore this particular critical system?
Join Date: Jul 2001
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What few people understand about software, is that software is like Swiss cheese. Full of holes, but only the ones that matter get found and fixed , by testing and through use. There will always be a few that matter and only show up later though.
Many 16 hour shifts were spent doing this .... I have the grey hair to prove it!
Join Date: Jul 2003
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Agreed, it could be some obscure bug in the code (suddenly reaching that point where a short int no longer works and you need a long one), but personally I think that's unlikely.
My guess:
a) Something broke that wasn't redundant;
b) Somebody implemented a change and it went wrong / had unforeseen consequences (or the backout plan failed / made it worse);
c) There is redundancy in the system but as with all major outages which are a result of a series of unfortunate minor faults that unfortunately occur at the same time, the redundancy was unavailable.
Join Date: Apr 2009
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I think it has already been said, but ScATCC(Mil), Prestwick closed on Friday night with the task being transferred to Swanwick. One presumes that entailed a new banana or two and a tweak to the VCCS?
Join Date: Mar 2001
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ojs and many others have referred to the "switch from night to day" mode, it isn't like something is different or anything is switched on or pushed, it is just an easy way of letting the general public with no knowledge what so ever try on understand a miniscule speck of the situation. It is no different to standard bandboxing and splitting of sectors that can be happening every minute of every day, just that at night the room is bandboxed almost as much as it possibly could be, and this problem arose as the traffic levels began to pick up and the sectors needed splitting.
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Having watched various TV channels and newspaper reports relating to the comms. hiccup at Swannwick is it not about time the top neddies at NATS finally come to realise that NATS does translate as National Air Traffic Services and rebrand the company accordingly.
Join Date: Dec 2013
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Changes introduced at earlier minor upgrades can sometimes not kick in until after a subsequent restart, sometimes triggered by eg. a minor hardware fault sometime later. Had such a problem elsewhere only a week before and a total (power/off ) reload of the system didn't clear it (would only have precipitated it in fact - if it hadn't already shown up by then) . Realising your last resort has failed is scary.
Only a backup/redundant system with total autonomy from the main protected system can necessarily avoid running into this mess. Several mission critical operations have them. Can only wonder why this one didn't, or did they realise what redundancy means ?
Only a backup/redundant system with total autonomy from the main protected system can necessarily avoid running into this mess. Several mission critical operations have them. Can only wonder why this one didn't, or did they realise what redundancy means ?
Join Date: Dec 1999
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So you want a completely redundant VCCS function, to enable 100% capacity ops when the current one is degraded? You want to develop and maintain a new set of hardware, from a different manufacturer, with a completely independent update/upgrade cycle? A new software set up with another million lines of code? You want to design and develop new interfaces to all the related systems in adjacent FIRs?
Really?
Really?
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Strikes me that it's often technology for technology's sake. We were told that when we moved to the new approach room at Heathrow when simple tasks like entering a 4 digit transponder code on the radar took about a dozen steps witj on screen menus, etc. The old clockwork system did it in seconds.
Don't know if Gonzo remembers the old 6th floor approach room? On the wall at the north end was a bank of telephone keyboards which were copies of all the other keyboards in the room. They were selector panels and when a position was opened or closed one simply selected or deselected the telephone lines one required using the "copy" of the keyboards on the operational postions. It never went wrong. Come back clockwork!
Don't know if Gonzo remembers the old 6th floor approach room? On the wall at the north end was a bank of telephone keyboards which were copies of all the other keyboards in the room. They were selector panels and when a position was opened or closed one simply selected or deselected the telephone lines one required using the "copy" of the keyboards on the operational postions. It never went wrong. Come back clockwork!