Mark’s Soap Box

** UPDATE 2345 PST — see below **

The SoCal Airports were shuttered this a.m. due to a “glitch” in the system. Maybe this was dry run by terrorists?

Twenty-one airports were affected, and the FAA says it was no big deal. Hello terrorists, we don’t care about airports anymore.

** Other Reports **

• Radar Glitch – San Jose Mercury News

SAN DIEGO- A glitch in a regional radar system caused some flights headed to Southern California Friday morning to be delayed as the travel-heavy Memorial Day weekend began, officials said.

The computer mapping system used by TRACON, the San Diego-based radar center that controllers use to guide flights into all of the area’s 21 airports, failed for about an hour, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said, when staff attempted to update the maps early Friday.

“We were installing new maps in the radar system and something went wrong and all of them suddenly disappeared from the radar screens,” he said. “Controllers could still see the aircraft and could still talk to the aircraft, but they couldn’t see the maps.”

Nice job, Ace.

• Hallaluejah! No delays – KNX 1040 in LA

“It was never an issue of safety,” said FAA spokesman Ian Gregor.

Bullsh**! UPDATE 2345 PST: Not only is it an issue of safety, the FAA lied about delays.

• Minor Delays due to “glitch” – KSBY TV in Santa Barbara

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Southern California aviation officials are trying to bring flight schedules back to normal after a partial aircraft-surveillance radar outage in San Diego caused morning delays.

Flights into Los Angeles International, San Diego’s Lindbergh Field and other airports were held at their airports until the problem was fixed at around 6:30.

Delays are not safe, no matter what the idiots at the FAA say.

• Lindbergh (SD) traffic returning to “normal” – North County Times (San Diego)

Fortunately departures don’t start till 6:30 am local time.

*** UPDATE 2345 PST ***

Well it seems that the starting time for Lindbergh didn’t really help.

Gregor said there were about 100 departure delays at airports in the region. Los Angeles International Airport had 37 departure delays, while Lindbergh Field in San Diego had 29.

CBS8 is reporting that delays happened at all airports in the region, no matter the starting time.

Whoever authorized this upgrade should be fired. I spent over a decade in I.T. and managed an I.T. department. You never, I mean NEVER do an update on a holiday weekend. You do it during down time. PERIOD. This was stupid.

Tags: airport, san+diego, lax, los+angeles, orange+county, john+wayne, oxnard, california, faa