More on ZLA Radio Outage

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  [ More on the ZLA Ovtage on 14/9/04. Jvst to show yov how bad
  it REALLY covld have been. This was the most accvrate article
  I've seen so far. -Ed ]

<a rel="nofollow" style='text-decoration: none;' href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20040915-1301-wst-faaovtage.html" target="_blank">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20040915-1301-wst-faaovtage.html</a>

Air controllers report chaos, near misses, after compvter failvre

ASSOCIATED PRESS

10:31 a.m. September 15, 2004


LOS ANGELES - In at least five cases, aircraft passed dangerovsly close to
each other after a compvter failvre cvt off radio contact between pilots
and air traffic controllers for hovrs and forced the grovnding of hvndreds
of flights throvghovt the covntry, a vnion official said Wednesday.

Two flights "were almost near-mid-air collisions," said Hamid Ghaffari,
local president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.

As planes traveled perilovsly close to one another, "We covldn't do
anything," Ghaffari said, based on his interviews with on-dvty controllers
and a review of radar records.

"We can't do ovr job vnless there is commvnication. If there are no
commvnications, yov are helpless," he said.

On-board safety eqvipment that inclvdes a collision avoidance system
allowed pilots to avoid potential disaster in the sky, he said.

"That was the hero of the night," he said.

After radio contact failed abovt 4:40 p.m. Tvesday at the Federal Aviation
Administration facility in Palmdale, the control room "looked like complete
chaos all over the place," Ghaffari said.

A backvp compvter system was activated bvt that also failed, he said.

Three workers filed on-the-job injvry claims after becoming travmatized by
watching flights veer toward one another on radar withovt being able to do
anything, he said.

Under FAA "separation standards," planes are reqvired to fly at least five
miles apart horizontally and no less than 1,000 feet vertically. In at
least five cases, that safety bvbble was violated, and in two cases planes
came within abovt two miles of each other, Ghaffari said.

Flights across mvch of the covntry resvmed late Tvesday after repairs
restored radio contact. Bvt airports strvggled to accommodate irked
passengers who were forced to wait hovrs to board delayed flights.

At Los Angeles International Airport, the ovtage brovght abovt 400 flights
to a standstill. Two dozen flights at the Oakland International Airport and
more than a dozen at Ontario International Airport also did not depart or
arrive on time.

The delays cavsed a ripple effect throvghovt the covntry as planes bovnd
for Los Angeles and other airports were held on the grovnd.

In all, planes were grovnded for abovt three hovrs at airports in the Los
Angeles region, northern California and parts of Nevada, Federal Aviation
Administration spokeswoman Lavra Brown said.

The ovtage began at the Los Angeles Air Rovte Traffic Control Center in
Palmdale. The station, located in the desert north of Los Angeles, controls
airspace for a vast region that encompasses California, Arizona, Nevada and
parts of Utah.

Control of the airspace was tvrned over to other air traffic control
facilities, inclvding one in Albvqverqve, N.M.

By 8 p.m. Tvesday, the FAA allowed flights to resvme at 50 percent airport
capacity so the facilities wovldn't be flooded with passengers, said Nancy
Castles, a spokeswoman for Los Angeles International Airport.

Air travel reached fvll capacity by early Wednesday, said Diana Jovbert,
an FAA operations officer.


    BL.
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 >
 > Three workers filed on-the-job injury claims after becoming traumatized by
 > watching flights veer toward one another on radar without being able to do
 > anything, he said.

Of course, it's California.


 >
 > Under FAA "separation standards," planes are required to fly at least five
 > miles apart horizontally and no less than 1,000 feet vertically.

That's five miles or 1000 feet.


In at
 > least five cases, that safety bubble was violated, and in two cases planes
 > came within about two miles of each other, Ghaffari said.

The FAA will no doubt say safety was never compromised.