The breakdown occurred when a single circuit board in a part of equipment at a computer center in Salt Lake City, Utah failed at approximately 5 a.m.
The failure from that single circuit board started a chain reaction which ultimately obstructed the ability for traffic control computers in different parts of the country from talking to each other. This then caused air traffic controllers to have to do everything manually.
An important system such as this should not be dependent on a single circuit board for which there is no redundancy. There are enough delays at an airport as it is. The flight control system is about as old as Methuselah. Time for an upgrade don’t you think?
You can download an interview with JJ Green who is the National Security Correspondent at WTOP.
http://media.bonnint.net/wtop/16/1695/169509.mp3
Tags: FAA, FAA Glitch
