Two recent events involving airport sub-contractors at work occurred on the same day at two different airports with the same outcome – a comprise in the integrity of ATC services.
The First: Fremont, California – A subcontractor’s mistake caused the FAA Telecommunications Infrastructure (FTI) system to shut down for 20 minutes at one of the largest [...]
Two recent events involving airport sub-contractors at work occurred on the same day at two different airports with the same outcome – a comprise in the integrity of ATC services.
The First: Fremont, California – A subcontractor’s mistake caused the FAA Telecommunications Infrastructure (FTI) system to shut down for 20 minutes at one of the largest regional air traffic control centers in the USA, leaving more than half the controllers on duty without the ability to communicate with airborne aircraft or use landline telephones to communicate with other air traffic control facilities. Controllers at Oakland Center were forced to contact surrounding FAA facilities with their personal cell phones and coordinate instructions to aircraft that were relayed by these facilities over the emergency radio frequencies.
The Second: Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands – A subcontractor at work on the airfield ruptured the underground cables supplying power the the VORTAC temporarily shutting down the navaid, causing much less impact than the first.
The work of these sub-contractors are necessary to keep airport operations running, but could perhaps be less disruptive if these factors are taken into consideration:
1. The work is done during periods of low traffic,
2. Sub-contractors are accompanied by airfield engineers who have knowledge of sensitive areas near those places where work is to be carried out, and
3. Backup systems are in place and tested prior to start of work.
Your Comments
I totally agree with you, we aerodrome operators need to be more responsible when work is being carried out on the aerodrome, I also support the presence of an aerodrome Engineer to over see the operation of work by a sub-contractor on Aerodromes.
That’s pretty scarey! Air travel is not something you wanna mess with for sure! It amazes me how all those big steel birds are controlled blindly by people on the ground. I fly very frequently so this kind of news is a little disturbing!