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.
Air France flight from Paris to Seattle lands in Iqaluit after heat smell in cabin
Updated May 7, 2024 at 5:00 p.m. May 7, 2024
By The Canadian Press
IQALUIT, Nunavut - A plane travelling from Paris to Seattle was forced to make an emergency landing in Iqaluit after there was a heat smell in the cabin during the flight.
Air France said in an emailed statement that the Boeing 787 was diverted to Nunavut’s capital and landed just before noon local time Tuesday. The plane had 260 passenger, three pilots and nine cabin crew on board.
The airline said technical checks were being done on the plane. It did not provide information on what caused the smell.
It said another Air France plane was set to travel from Montreal to pick up the passengers in Iqaluit and take them to New York, where they would then be rerouted to Seattle.
“Air France regrets the inconvenience caused by this situation and reiterates that the safety of its customers and crews is its absolute imperative,” the airline said.
A Nunavut government spokesperson said no damage or injuries were reported. Weichien Chan said in an email that the Iqaluit Airport Authority was working with the airline to provide help.
The Iqaluit International Airport is located next to the city and has one asphalt runway.
RTH10260 wrote: ↑Sat May 11, 2024 1:28 am
comment: from other sources i take it that the final destination was Seoul, and those passengers had a 29 hours journey.
I’m still bitter about my 56 hour journey from my hotel in Kathmandu to my home in Virginia - 20 hours of that in the jurisdictional no-man’s-land in the Delhi airport where there was no food or water. I couldn’t leave the airport without a visa and I couldn’t enter the main terminal without a boarding pass, which they refused to issue until three hours before my flight.
I’m sure the people at Iqaliut were much nicer to the passengers involuntarily stranded there.
"Hey! We left this England place because it was bogus, and if we don't get some cool rules ourselves, pronto, we'll just be bogus too!" -- Thomas Jefferson
As I type, there is a small passenger plane (business jet maybe) circling Newcastle New South Wales (for two hours already) losing fuel load and giving emergency services time to set up.
Its landing gear has failed.
Edit: not a jet according to my eyeballs on the TV picture
Be assured that a walk through the ocean of most souls Would scarcely get your feet wet
keith wrote: ↑Sun May 12, 2024 9:29 pm
As I type, there is a small passenger plane (business jet maybe) circling Newcastle New South Wales (for two hours already) losing fuel load and giving emergency services time to set up.
Its landing gear has failed.
Edit: not a jet according to my eyeballs on the TV picture
Most likely a turbo prop....it will cut the engines off during the landing approach to avoid a prop strike...
"He sewed his eyes shut because he is afraid to see, He tries to tell me what I put inside of me
He's got the answers to ease my curiosity, He dreamed a god up and called it Christianity"
Plane makes ‘wheels-up’ emergency landing at Newcastle airport after circling for hours Small plane circled NSW airport for four hours burning fuel as authorities braced for emergency after landing gear failed
Elias Visontay
Mon 13 May 2024 05.05 CEST
A small plane has performed a successful emergency landing without its landing gear lowered at Newcastle airport in New South Wales.
The authorities who guided the aircraft down burst into applause as it safely landed on its belly on Monday afternoon.
The plane had been circling above Newcastle for almost four hours with three people onboard, including the pilot, after discovering the mechanical issue almost immediately after departing for a flight to Port Macquarie.
Authorities had been bracing for a fiery emergency, with more than a dozen crews including fire trucks, police, the State Emergency Service and ambulances at Newcastle airport. An operations room had been set up at a nearby defence base at Williamtown.
Oh my! The pilot has an ejector seat! 
