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FAA says a buggy software update grounded flights

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Ever got a bad smartphone update? Now imagine that your phone controls air traffic on the Eastern seaboard, and you have some idea what happened to flights on Saturday. The FAA said that a software update that was supposed to help controllers see frequently used info at a radar facility ended up bringing down the overall system. (www.engadget.com) More...

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jbqwik
jbqwik 2
remember back to the days..the days before computers and software. What was the excuse then?
It's sooo easy to blame a faceless, emotionless entity, and everyone nods their heads, "yes".
When the government spends so much tax dollars, where is the oversight? And, when error happens, where is the responsibility? What's the fix? Drives me crazy!
<enter your own snarky comments here> ;-]
zennermd
zennermd 1
I thought airplanes couldn't fly without computers..? Isn't that what makes them go up and down and what not? ;)
yr2012
matt jensen 1
Not mine. My GPS is on my phone
sparkie624
sparkie624 1
Goes by an old saying.... To state an old saying (minorly reworded due to language):

"To Error is Human... To Really Screw Up Requires The Use Of A Computer"
STEELJAW
STEELJAW 1
That's exactly what that sounds like. It wasn't tested long enough on the production system before they upgraded the operational database. Any IT Director worth half of their paycheck knows better than that. DUMB!
joelwiley
joel wiley 1
The good old "Ready, Fire, Aim" implementation school.
TorstenHoff
Torsten Hoff 1
Official statement: http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=19354
joelwiley
joel wiley 1
"Despite the outage, air traffic controllers safely handled 70 to 88 percent of Saturday’s scheduled arrivals and departures at the region’s three major airports by using backup systems and procedures."

One wonders about the other 12-30%?

And:
"A new function in the latest ERAM software upgrade provided individual controllers with the ability to set up a customized window of frequently referenced data. This information was supposed to be completely removed from the system as controllers deleted it.

However, as controllers adjusted their unique settings, those changes remained in memory until the storage limit was filled. This consumed processing power needed for the successful operation of the overall system."

The poor will always be with us. Likewise memory leaks without sufficient testing

JerrySteinberg
(Duplicate Squawk Submitted)

Flights Resume After FAA Computer Glitch Grounds Thousands on the East Coast

Air traffic in the eastern United States is beginning to return to normal, officials said.

Flights along the East Coast were disrupted for hours Saturday after a technical glitch at an air traffic control center occurred. As of 8 p.m. EDT, almost 5,000 flights were delayed in the United States on Saturday while over 700 were cancelled, according to FlightStats, a flight tracking service....

http://www.frequentbusinesstraveler.com/2015/08/flights-resume-after-faa-computer-glitch-grounds-thousands-on-the-east-coast/
gearup328
Peter Steitz -1
(Duplicate Squawk Submitted)

FAA computers again

I flew all over the East Coast 10 years ago and never had an ATC glitch. What's happening?

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/08/15/computer-outage-faa-center-dc-delays-flights-northeast/31777299/?csp=breakingnews

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