Air Traffic Control in San Diego down for 3 hours
May 20th, 2008 by Mark
San Diego flight control failed once again today. This is getting to be a regular occurrence. How many more times does this have to happen before someone says:”hmm, we may have a problem?”
As many as two dozen flights in Southern California airspace were affected by a power failure that shut down radio communications and radar for three hours at an air traffic control center in San Diego.
Workers at a Southern California Terminal Radar Approach Control facility in Miramar immediately began using their cellphones to alert controllers at nearby air traffic communications facilities, including the Los Angeles International Airport tower and the Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center in Palmdale.
Is it just me or does anyone else think that the backup system should be something other than personal cell phones? Kudos to the ATC staff, but come on. Then again maybe they were worried it would fail, too? Fiber optic cable downs Palmdale and SoCal TRACON.
“As an air traffic controller, I’m used to certain sights and sounds that, even in a crazy environment, give me comfort,” Davis said. “When everything went dead, my heart stopped and my next thought was, ‘This cannot be happening.’ “
Get real Mr. Davis, this is typical of our ATC system.
One more in a long line of failures in the Air Traffic Control System (ATC) here in the US. It gets worse.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said a preliminary assessment was that the switches for the power used for radar and radio were “in the off position.”
“We don’t know why,” he said.
You don’t know why? Excuse me? Hmm sabotage? terrorism? test-run? Seems like a good time to do it. Most flights at that time are cargo — Lindbergh’s (San Diego) last flight arrival is around midnight, hmmm — and so disruption would be minimal, and no doubt barely noticed.
Previously on the Island
- Lindbergh Radar Failed
- Lindbergh Field Shut Down
- No,it’s not the same LAX story
- Here We Go Again part 1 million and 3
- Getting to be a habit
- Airline computers go down again
- San Diego Security
- SoCal Airports Down
- What is up with the airports
Tags: san diego, air traffic control, TRACON, flight path, miramar