UK air traffic control chaos prolonged by remote working, review finds Engineers took 90 minutes to arrive after IT meltdown led to widespread grounding of flights last August
Gwyn Topham Transport correspondent
Thu 14 Mar 2024 13.19 CET
Engineers working remotely took 90 minutes to arrive and restart a crucial part of UK air traffic control’s IT system during the August bank holiday meltdown, according to an independent report.
The flights of more than 700,000 passengers were disrupted after planes were grounded across UK airports on 28 August, when the computerised flight planning system at National Air Traffic Sreervices (Nats) shut down because of a glitch.
An independent panel highlighted a “significant lack of pre-planning” at Nats, without “any multi-agency rehearsal of the management of an incident of this nature and scale”.
Airlines said the report, which was commissioned by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), showed Nats’ procedures were “wholly inadequate”. Ryanair repeated its calls for the Nats chief executive to be sacked.
When technicians on site were unable to solve the problem, the on-call specialist engineer found they could not carry out the fix working remotely. The report found it took 90 minutes for the on-call engineer to “arrive on-site in order to perform the necessary full system restart that was not permitted remotely”.
RTH10260 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 12, 2024 11:12 pm
From the description it may not have been a regular turbulence. I wonder what technical glitch made the cockpit go dark.
Pure speculation my side: did a pilot fall asleep and hit some controls by accident?
Boeing cockpit seat switch mishap reportedly led to Latam flight incident New scrutiny of planemaker’s 787 Dreamliner over terrifying drop adds to safety crisis after cabin panel blowout on 737 Max 9 jet
Callum Jones in New York
Fri 15 Mar 2024 15.21 CET
Another Boeing jet is facing scrutiny after the planemaker told airlines to check the cockpit seats of 787 Dreamliners following a terrifying drop during a flight from Sydney to Auckland.
Dozens of people on Latam Airlines Flight 800 were said to have been hurt this week when the plane fell sharply, throwing passengers around the cabin.
Boeing has recommended that airlines inspect cockpit chairs of 787 jets for loose covers on switches, according to the Wall Street Journal, which reported that unnamed US industry officials said the incident was the result of a mishap: a flight attendant serving a meal hit a switch on the pilot’s seat, pushing the pilot into the controls.
In a memo issued late on Thursday, seen by the newspaper, Boeing said that closing a spring-loaded seat back switch guard on to a loose rocker switch cap could “potentially jam the rocker switch, resulting in unintended seat movement”.
Boeing said: “The investigation of Flight LA800 is ongoing and we defer to the investigation authorities on any potential findings. We have taken the precautionary measure of reminding 787 operators of a service bulletin issued in 2017 which included instructions for inspecting and maintaining switches on flight deck seats.
“We are recommending operators perform an inspection at the next maintenance opportunity.”
NEXTA @nexta_tv wrote:
British passengers on a flight to Turkey managed to drink all the alcohol on the plane in just 25 minutes - The Independent
The crew, surprised by this rapid consumption of drinks, said that this had never happened on their flights before.
“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” —John Adams
All I can think is that the bar is stocked on the assumption that most people want a soda of some kind. If everyone says "gin," or "whiskey," etc., and then "time for the other half," I can see the bar running dry pretty quickly.
Oh my! The pilot has an ejector seat! 
