Software Glitch Blamed For Tokyo ATC Shutdown | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-04.01.24

Airborne-Unlimited-04.16.24

Airborne-FlightTraining-04.17.24 Airborne-Unlimited-04.11.24

Airborne-Unlimited-04.12.24

Join Us At 0900ET, Friday, 4/10, for the LIVE Morning Brief.
Watch It LIVE at
www.airborne-live.net

Mon, Mar 17, 2003

Software Glitch Blamed For Tokyo ATC Shutdown

How Do You Say, "Sorry" In Japanese?

The Japanese government blames computer giant NEC for the shutdown of the country's central air traffic control system earlier this month. But the government also says its own technicians overlooked the problem for months.

The failure, which shut down both the main computer and its backup at 7 a.m. on March 1, forced the delay of hundreds of thousands of passengers and prompted the cancellation of more than 200 flights over a period of 48 hours.

Investigators eventually identified the problem as a defect in a program installed by NEC on the central air traffic control system. The program collects flight data from airports nationwide and feeds it to air traffic controllers, according to a statement by the transport ministry.

How Do You Say "I'm Really Sorry"?

Aviation bureau technicians realized the program running on the flight data processing system was flawed when it was installed in September, but dismissed the error as too small to cause serious problems, the statement said.

In January, NEC technicians discovered the same defect but decided not to report it as the system had been running smoothly for four months and left it unfixed.

"The problem was not believed to be of great consequence," said transport ministry spokesman Motohiro Kaneko.

When technicians made changes to a related program on the morning of March 1, it paralyzed the entire system, disabling automatic data transmission of all departures to and from air traffic controllers.

The ministry acknowledged that it failed to test sufficiently for incompatibilities before the other program was updated that morning.

NEC: Our Bad

NEC said in a statement, "We have confirmed that a mistake in a program made by our company was the cause of the... obstruction of March 1." There's no indication yet of what penalties NEC may have to pay, if any.

Aviation and NEC officials said it was highly unlikely other traffic control systems around the world were vulnerable to the same problem.

"Logically speaking, unless they run the same program on the same set up, it would be unlikely," said Kaneko.

Technicians reversed the changes that had prompted the shutdown and had the main computer system up and running within an hour. The planned updates were still being completed, Kaneko said.

All domestic and international flights were grounded for at least half an hour after the failure occurred, but delays continued for two days because of the backlog of earlier flights.

In total, over 200 flights were canceled, while about 1,300 were delayed.

FMI: www.mlit.go.jp/english

Advertisement

More News

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (04.15.24)

Aero Linx: International Flying Farmers IFF is a not-for-profit organization started in 1944 by farmers who were also private pilots. We have members all across the United States a>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: 'No Other Options' -- The Israeli Air Force's Danny Shapira

From 2017 (YouTube Version): Remembrances Of An Israeli Air Force Test Pilot Early in 2016, ANN contributor Maxine Scheer traveled to Israel, where she had the opportunity to sit d>[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (04.15.24)

"We renegotiated what our debt restructuring is on a lot of our debts, mostly with the family. Those debts are going to be converted into equity..." Source: Excerpts from a short v>[...]

Airborne 04.16.24: RV Update, Affordable Flying Expo, Diamond Lil

Also: B-29 Superfortress Reunion, FAA Wants Controllers, Spirit Airlines Pulls Back, Gogo Galileo Van's Aircraft posted a short video recapping the goings-on around their reorganiz>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (04.16.24): Chart Supplement US

Chart Supplement US A flight information publication designed for use with appropriate IFR or VFR charts which contains data on all airports, seaplane bases, and heliports open to >[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2024 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC