Unidentified flying object code downs UK civilian airspace?

[Feher Tamas <etomcat () freemail hu>]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3772077.stm
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/06/03/britain.flight/index.html

Massive air disruption across UK

Thousands of air passengers are facing delays after an air
traffic control computer failure caused flights to be
suspended across the UK.

National Air Traffic Services said flights were grounded so
that controllers could prioritise on planes in the air, but
safety was unaffected.

The air traffic control centre at West Drayton is now fully
operational again but most flights remain on hold.

Many airports are advising people to check in as normal but
delays continue.

Adrian Yalland, spokesman for Nats, said: "Our computer
system is now fully operational and safety being our primary
concern we are now working to make sure those aircraft in
the air and in need of landing should be able to do so to
clear the delays." 

 He said the fault was thought to lie with the "flow of
data" in the system.

"The reasons why planes were grounded was because we
couldn't let them into the air which would add more
complications. "

Mr Yalland added: "The system is not going to go down again."
[That could mean it is not going to be brought back online,
ever. - me]

BBC transport correspondent Tom Symonds says the affected
computer systems were not those that handle the separation
of aircraft in the air.

He says the fault was in what is known as the host control
system, a two-year-old computer system at West Drayton.

The system handles flight strips which are the basic details
of flights coming in and out of the UK.

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