Computer Glitch Cancels 90 Flights At Seven Airports

It appeared to have been the mother of all computer glitches, shutting down several airports in Britain and grounding more than 90 flights Thursday. It happened during tests on an upgraded computer system.

The system, based at the West Drayton Control Center and operated by the UK's National Air Traffic Services, was only down for an hour or so beginning at 6:00 am local time Thursday. Still, the chain reaction of delays and cancellations was felt well into the evening.

All traffic was stopped at Gatwick, Heathrow, Manchester and Inverness airports, according to the BBC. Traffic was delayed throughout the United Kingdom and in many cities on the Continent.

"What we did here was to ensure safety levels were maintained, we did that by taking the traffic right down, handling the arrivals while we sorted this problem out," said NATS CEO Richard Everitt. He apologized to the flying public for the thousands of passengers stranded by the outage.

The glitch affected en route tracking systems. Aircraft in the air were allowed to land, but the problem forced flights still on the ground to hold. And hold. And hold...

Finger pointing over the incident began almost immediately -- and you can bet that much of it was among politicians. Conservative leader Michael Howard called the stoppage "yet another example of government incompetence" on the part of Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labor Party.

But Blair's Transport Secretary, Alistair Darling, fired right back, pointing to "decades" of neglect that has plagued the UK's ATC system. "It is very, very unfortunate and extremely irritating if you happen to be flying today that during the course of testing for an upgrade and improvement to the West Drayton system something went wrong and as a result you have got this disruption."

The foul-ups, the huge airport crowds and the angst led one passenger to say, "Next time I travel, I think I'll do it by hot air balloon."

FMI: www.nats.co.uk