Posted on 05/05/2004 12:23:07 AM PDT by BulletBobCo
Air travel in Houston and South Texas struggled to return to normal late Tuesday after being disrupted by a computer glitch.
The problem was the second major computer incident involving air travel in the past few days, and it caused many flights to be delayed for hours.
The latest problem occurred at the Federal Aviation Administration's regional control center in Houston when new software was installed early Tuesday.
After being installed, the software affected the FAA's ability to handle automated flight plan data, the agency said. The previous version of the software then was reinstalled, but not before flights were delayed by as much as two hours.
Houston-based Continental Airlines said about 40 of its flights were affected.
Over the weekend, Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines saw its flights grounded for more than six hours after computer problems arose. Delta on Monday refused to say whether the troubles were related to the "Sasser" worm that began invading computers late last week.
The Houston problem was not caused by any type of virus like Sasser, FAA spokesman John Clabes said.
Also Tuesday, 20 British Airways flights were delayed for about 10 minutes Tuesday because of check-in desk problems caused by Sasser.
In Houston, traffic at Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport was nearly back to normal bymidafternoon, but Hobby Airport continued to experience some delays, Houston Airport System spokesman Ernie DeSoto said.
That was probably because Hobby handles more regional traffic, he said.
The problem began about 7:50 a.m., according to the FAA. Primary radar coverage was maintained, but without any of the identifying data and the automatic processing of the data to display on computer screens for air traffic controllers.
As a result, controllers at the Houston-based center ordered a halt in takeoffs, or "ground stop," at all airports they cover, which includes airports in South Texas and small portions of New Mexico and Louisiana.
In addition to Intercontinental and Hobby, 11 other regional commercial airports were affected. Among them were New Orleans and Baton Rouge in Louisiana.
The FAA's Houston center handles "en route traffic" above 18,000 feet in South Texas and over parts of the Gulf of Mexico.
Aircraft already in the air bound for or passing through Houston airspace were not affected, the FAA said.
The FAA ground stop order was lifted about 10:30 a.m., but a ripple effect continued to cause delays.
Chronicle reporter Lucas Wall and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Right. And we have not seen 1 of about 5 calls at our help desk result in the discovery of the virus either.
Riiiiight.
Or activated.
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