300 flights weather serial system crash at Calcutta

Calcutta: Calcutta airport flirted with disaster for nine hours on Tuesday after a serial system crash left around 300 flights without the safety net of remote surveillance and guidance.
Three key components of the surveillance and communication network going on the blink at the same time is unprecedented even by the appalling standards of the city airport, officials admitted.
“The Flight Data Processing System, Automated Message Switching System, Automated Dependence Surveillance and a monitor for surveillance of departing and approaching aircraft stopped functioning at 4am. The air traffic control (ATC) staff were a bundle of nerves for nine hours,” an official said.
The glitches were repaired and normality restored around 1.15pm, by which time the ATC had recorded several instances of aircraft losing contact with the tower or failing to send crucial flight data to the data processing system. The airport was also unable to share information about flights with other air traffic control towers, which can be disastrous if two aircraft under different surveillance zones come close to crossing each other’s path.
19/01/11 The Telegraph

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Categories: Airports Jan 2011, Safety Jan 2011