FAA Computer Glitch Causes Widespread Airline Delays

seven of five writes with this excerpt from an Associated Press report: "A problem with the FAA system that collects airlines' flight plans caused widespread flight cancellations and delays nationwide Thursday. It was the second time in 15 months that a glitch in the flight plan system caused delays. The FAA said in a statement that it is having a problem processing flight plan information. 'We are investigating the cause of the problem,' the agency said. 'We are processing flight plans manually and expect some delays. We have radar coverage and communications with planes.'"

Here I sit...

[dtmos]

...stuck in Atlanta...

Re:problems?

[Tellarin]

By "glitch" they mean "totally offline delaying and canceling flights".

I'm pretty sure they had lots of other bugs and "regular glitches" in this time.

On the other hand, I'm also pretty sure that this kind of software does indeed go through a much better development and verification process than most commercial software around.

Re:Honest!

[Anon-Admin]

HAHAH, around my work you could add "or Document" to the end of that statement. I cant count the number of times people have changed things with no documentation and they did not consider it important.

Just another great goverment run program...

[round4]

Yea, these are the guys (the feds) I want building cars, taking over health care...thanks god they are not building the planes. I'm just trying to think one government run organization that works as well as any private one. Any idea?

Yeah, right. A cynic's view.

[Bob_Who]

Its true the flights are delayed. That's as much of the truth we get from this complex system of terribly overworked government and airline employees, national security, information systems, politics, FAA, corporate scum, secret clearance computer firms with bizarre contracts, and the 24/7 news spew with commercial airline as clients. They start by overbooking flights, while trying to account for each seat for security, and the bean counters, vips, and bad weather. To top it off information systems have to share some data, but not other data, while the people working have to comply with all sorts of rigid protocols and odd project management that controls everything except their overtime. I dunno, I have no reason to believe that any news we get about this type of event is necessarily true. It doesn't need to be. Its just the spin that reporters have to make in the absence of any real statement for the record. If they told you the truth you'd stop giving them your money. God forbid airlines make customers a top priority. Ha! Even if they were telling the truth, it would be a fluke, but just as vague and pointless. OK. We know the truth. Its aliens from Orion preparing for 2012. And they work for Delta.

Re:Just another great goverment run program...

[Starker_Kull]

The radar technology used by air traffic controls is from the 50's. No GPS... Planes are still tracked by little "physical" slips of paper. The entire system has been in need of an overhaul since the 70's. Planes still use land based radio towers - waste tons of fuel due to indirect routes.

That's true. The U.S. GOVERNMENT built the best air traffic control system in the world back in the 50's, one so robust, well designed and well managed that it has been the safety and operational count leader world-wide for more than half a century despite ongoing neglect under the Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, and Bush II administrations. I wonder what they could do if we actually spent some money, collected from taxes, to upgrade it? Wow. Infrastructure building. My dad always said it was cool.