Posted on 12/18/2017 6:13:38 AM PST by logi_cal869
If a terrorist wanted to find the most vulnerable point in America’s airport network they could not have hoped for a better guide than what just happened at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson.
Just after 1 p.m. Sunday the whole airport, the world’s busiest, went dark. Thousands of flights were disrupted. For many hours nobody in authority attempted to explain—or even seemed able to explain—what had happened.
Just imagine this is a classic plan for phase one of a terrorist attack: Render the target blind. None of the defenses are operational. Thousands of people are trapped in restricted space without directions about how they can find an exit.
As chaos spreads nobody knows who turn to for information. The communications blackout is as complete as the power blackout.
The real takeaway here is Democrat Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed, seen by some as a gubernatoriall candidate for the dims, did nothing to address the issue during his two terms as mayor.
All you have to do is pull the fuel handle on the wing of a departing 747, throw a Bic lighter at the fuel trail, and you’ll have landing lights for remaining incoming traffic.
On the side of continuing some operations, this occurred during daylight hours. The aircraft themselves have power for communications, and there must be plenty of handheld transceivers scattered about the airport. It would be tricky to run the local comms (Ground, Tower, Clearance), but once airborne, or while airborne for incoming aircraft, there is approach and center controls, which are likely off-airport and with-power.
Indeed, most airports have no tower and run just fine. Many towered airports would do fine without one (Nashua NH and Lawrence MA have switched back-n-forth over the years). Some limited amount of operations should be possible from busy airports like Atlanta, albeit less then when the do have ground power.
You’re missing the point: Media is already fingering Trump to distract from public policy failure in Georgia. I suspect the true causes of this are in many states after 8 years of zero.
Having lived and worked in Atlanta, I can say that the city is one big fiasco, likely because no one is ever held accountable and the local folks don’t want to risk highlighting themselves by taking initiative, as their fellow employees will resent and attack them for it.
It is suspicious, however, that earlier this year a critical section of Atlanta’s I-85 freeway was collapsed due to an unlikely fire, and now the airport and redundant power systems were also taken out of commission due to an unlikely fire. This is a large, unfriendly city. Not a place you want to be in the middle of a catastrophe.
The muzzies aren’t going to start a blackout. They prefer blood, body parts, things that go bang and people crying out in pain.
Mr. Mercat always has a flashlight and duct tape with him when he travels. Makes him cranky that he can’t take his pocket knife on a plane.
A blackout facilitates bloodshed by putting people in close proximity outside of secure areas where it is easily predictable for them to be in easily-targeted masses.
This tactic - sans power failure - was evidenced by the Boston bombers’ placement of charges.
A power event could be the precursor to widespread chaos and it has been widely debated in terrorism scenarios.
It’s just a shame that this lefty writer uses this scenario for fake news political purposes.
It’s no less pertinent, however.
You really need more than one feed and additional redundancy.
Especially when we’re talking a building literally miles long.
Being prepared in MY world means AVOIDING FLYING! Especially at holiday times.
This time, I took my meds out of it just in case it got “lost” again...
So sorry to hear of your travel woes. Sounds like a living nightmare.
NEVER check your meds! Always travel with adequate amount - on your person, to last DAYS...or a WEEK, in case of unexpected interruptions.
The incident has nothing to do with backup generators. They have a redundant transmission system however the second system was also damaged.
These things happen. What was stupid is the ATL airport reaction to it. That and a bunch of sheeple that can’t do anything without somebody giving them direction. Really sad.
Sorry, I had to chuckle a little....only because, as an experienced traveler, you learn to laugh at some travel situations, otherwise your head will explode.
I find airlines to be focused on making your experience as good as possible for NORMAL situations. Once you get into “unexpected” then it all falls apart. Most of the people you can interact with have no idea how things work outside of their job. Have you EVER seen somebody with a name tag with title “Manager” at an airport? Good luck. They make sure the only people you get to interact with are foot soldiers, armed with “policy” and zero discretion. It’s by design.
I was once stranded, due to a storm, we got the “delayed” message several times, leading into the AM. At about 3am the flight was now “cancelled” and rescheduled for 10am. Hundreds of people, including the elderly, were left to sleep on the terminal floor. When I complained that there was no protocol for making people more comfortable in such circumstances the only answers I got were, “You could have got a hotel room”, which made no sense whatsoever, to, “this doesn’t happen very often”, which just meant “we have no plan” even though, somewhere in the country, this happens all the time. If they’d just been honest sooner I would have just left and paid for a hotel, because of the continuous “delays” they took that option away.
You’d think they could turn the TV volume down so people could sleep. Nope. You’d think that the cleaning schedule could be adjusted so that vacuum cleaners weren’t being put next to the heads of people sleeping. Nope. Turn off a few lights? Nope. Have an area they could set up some cots. Nope.
The airline employees are taught to just say, “we don’t own the terminal, I can’t change anything”, refusing to even understand that, as a customer, that answer is just simply unacceptable. I don’t care who owns the airline and/or terminal. I DO expect that somebody with authority can examine a situation and order contingency plans to be enacted. The problem is...they don’t have any. Apparently, none of the respective entities understand their obligation to handle the “unexpected” and be able to treat their customers humanely. Looking at the elderly trying to sleep on the floor, with no accommodations to make them more comfortable was appalling to see.
I’m glad you were able to get to your meds, that was probably a blessing, in other instances it may not have been the case. The people you get to talk to have no idea how things happen and have no authority. You are just sheep. They only plan on how to get you on and off the plane as quickly as possible, along with trying to be timely and be on schedule (so long as it benefits them). Outside that, they don’t care. Most people don’t fly that often, so when they have a bad experience they might “write a letter” and get something in return, but nothing more significant ever happens as it’ll have a price tag associated with it.
Ping.
Perfect.
Yes, and AVgas burns Allllll the way up into the air.
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