Posted on 11/14/2024 7:39:46 AM PST by DFG
A bank holiday air traffic control meltdown that left more than 700,000 passengers stranded was made worse because a work-from-home engineer's password wouldn't work.
Chaos erupted at airports across the UK last August when a flight-plan glitch caused the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) computer system to collapse.
With the system down, flights could not take off or land at any airport, causing hellish delays that lasted for days and cost airlines £100 million in compensation.
A Civil Aviation Authority inquiry into the incident today found that IT support engineers were allowed to work from home on one of the busiest days of the year.
The engineer assigned to fix the problem struggled to login remotely because the system had crashed, so it would not accept his password.
It took an hour and a half for them to get into their office, where they performed a 'full system re-start' — which did not resolve the problem.
While thousands of holidaymakers were stuck at airports or on the tarmac, advice was sought from an off-site senior engineer, who also did not understand why the system had failed so dramatically.
Finally, four hours after the initial incident, someone phoned the system's German manufacturer, Frequentis Comsoft, and the issue was identified.
By the time it was resolved, the backlog was so huge that many passengers did not fly until days later, so holidays were cut short or cancelled completely.
Today, the Civil Aviation Authority called for senior engineers to be on duty in the NATS offices all times to avoid a repeat of the disaster.
It also called for toothless airline regulators to be given more power to ensure customers are quickly and properly compensated — as some travellers waited 'many weeks, and in some cases months' for out-of-pocket expenses to be refunded.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
At least we can say we have technology.
“engineer”? Really? Was he an IT guy with a degree in software engineering? They call themselves ngneers but are not, legally.
Software is sold with no guarantee, not even that it will do what was advertised. Plus, no one is ever personally responsible.
That is not professional.
If I had F’d up and people hurt, I would have gone to prison. If I had lied — same result — I saw it happen to others. Even medical malpractice is not that risky.
So... being in the office wouldn't have helped either but they blame working remotely.
Also from the article: Finally, four hours after the initial incident, someone phoned the system's German manufacturer, Frequentis Comsoft, and the issue was identified.
It appears that the technicians at the manufacturer in another country, speaking a different language, were able to diagnose the problem remotely and solve it. So... working remotely good?
The IT world went to remote support decades ago. Companies cannot afford full-time, on-site staff and instead have outsourced teams supporting multiple accounts all over the world.
For instance, the CAA [British Civil Aviation Authority] wanted to obtain contact details for all passengers on affected flights so it could conduct a survey.
It requested this information from airlines, but they declined, with one saying that consumer research is a ‘distraction’.
End of the story.
Remote access to critical civil safety infrastructure.
What else could go wrong besides lack of technical access?
:huge eyeroll:
Correction: "Companies will not pay for full-time, on-site staff
You raise good points. But the network was down which was also part of the problem. The problem is complex and the solution is complex.
Remote control has many inherent problems.
Having a knowledgeable person on site, would have speeded things up at a minimum
When you have centralized complex systems SNAFU affects a lot of people. When my computer goes down, it affects only me. But I hate the individual who constantly makes small changes on my computer and makes my life miserable.
FREEZE their licenses until they comply
“The engineer assigned to fix the problem...”
“It took an hour and a half for them to get into their office, where they performed a ‘full system re-start’...”
I think I see the problem. “My pronouns are they/them/their.”
Years ago I was a network support person and whenever my engineer said it would take 5 minutes, I knew we were pulling an all nighter.
Those days ended decades ago. Your accounting firm is a contract and off-site, your legal team is independent and off-site, your marketing team is a contract and off-site, your IT support is contracted and off-site, etc.
everything has pros and cons.
everything has appropriate application.
don’t just site pros or examples. One size fits all is a philosophy of what type of govt?
I am not a fan of centralized things like govt, business, etc.
I want a local person in charge of my bank, insurance, etc.
An onsite person at the airport is important.
That's assuming the servers are even at the airport. They're likely at an off-site location.
WORK FROM HOME chaos strikes again.
But, they are “entitled” don’t you see...?
It’s worse in Britain.
An “engineer” in the UK is a mechanic.
Don’t know what they call an actual degreed engineer.
IT is bad as you know - everyone’s an “engineer” even if they are self taught coders.
But the British are beyond that - any idiot with a wrench is an “engineer”.
Management doesn’t understand that senior network engineers are often like firefighters. They may sit around a lot, but when you need them, you *really* need them.
I once worked through a technical support firm. Their name? On-Site
This WFH argument is akin to those that say EVs are the be all and end all.
No amount of negative real-world evidences will ever penetrate their skulls.
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