Posted on 09/28/2014 7:30:28 AM PDT by John W
As of 7:30 a.m. Sunday, O'Hare International Airport had cancelled more than 530 flights and anticipates delays throughout the day as officials try to return flight traffic to normal after a fire Friday at the FAA's radar facility.
The fire at the agency's Aurora radar facility wreaked havoc on the nation's air travel system and is also behind at least 50 flights were cancelled at Midway Airport, with an average 40 minute delay for incoming and outbound flights, according to the Chicago Avaition Department.
The FAA said Saturday that technicians were working to complete a “damage assessment and timeline for restoration of services” at the facility. Officials didn't say when it would return to full service.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
I wonder if anyone thought of backup systems .... y’know, like just in case?
I’d bet there are co-located backups systems. If so, they’re backed up computationally, but not for a facilities problem.
The last big disgruntled employee fire I remember is the submarine fire which damaged a nuclear sub beyond repair.
Ya, I’m surprised at a lack of backup systems, or emergency procedures.
I remember during some severe brush fires in the San Diego area, that a major air traffic control facility at Miramar was shut down due to the fires. The work was transferred to a facility in Palmdale, CA, so there was minimal disruption of air traffic control in the southwestern US at that time.
As the Chicago area carries so much air traffic, you would think a similar back up plan would have been in place there.
Was this guy disgruntled or just a gruntled musim? We are not hearing much about this over here in North Dakota.
Can’t someone just be a run-of-the-mill arsonist anymore?
Depends upon which mill he is the “run of.”
There is much backup and redundancy in the FAA equipment. In case of equipment failure the backup equipment takes over. This guy took out the online and backup equipment. He had been working three for something like 8 years and knew the systems quite well.
The Usaf can’t deploy a portable air traffic control system?
I guess he’ll be pondering his mad escapade for years on end.
Exactly. You have just that one facility in Aurora - handling two busy airports. However, I don’t think they factored in that one employee (or more) would sabotage the facility to that end.
I guess he’ll be pondering his mad escapade for years on end.
Not near as much as the guys that have to work almost 24/7 to fix it. Then there will be studies and procedures that will have to be made as what to do in similar incidents. The FAA joke is that the FAA works by the method of Crash Management.
Somebody in that office probably got a performance bonus last year for work on the COOP plan. FAIL.
"'So, I'm gonna smoke this blunt and move on, take care everyone"
Air traffic controller who set Chicago control tower on fire and cancelled 2,000 flights sent final message
Like putting new hinges on the barn door after the horses escaped.
Anxious to see a pic of Howard.
Apparently he was pissed he was being transferred to Hawaii!
I’ll bet if the company had surveyed the employees and asked for hands if they wanted to move to Hawaii if would have been a sea of hands.
‘I’ll go, I’ll go!!”
From what I’ve seen the FAA is lucky to be able to upgrade equipment to new computers let alone a backup system.
Some TV reporter said yesterday that he took a rolling suitcase with all his arson/suicide gear into the facility.
Better call in Scorpion before it is too late.
Or the FBI prior to 9/11.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.