With FAA communications system shut down, Oakland center controllers scrambled to keep planes safe

08/28/2009
FREMONT, Calif. – A subcontractor’s mistake caused the FAA Telecommunications Infrastructure (FTI) system to shut down Wednesday morning for 20 harrowing minutes at one of the country’s largest regional air traffic control centers, 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. Oakland Center is responsible for a huge swath of airspace encompassing most of the northern half of California and parts of western Nevada, in addition to many millions of miles of airspace over the Pacific Ocean.

...

The problem appears to have begun on Tuesday, when the subcontractors performing maintenance on the telephone and communication lines noticed a problem. The system was put on a backup line, but there was no notification given to air traffic controllers whatsoever that this was happening and no indication provided that controllers should be on alert should the system shut down.



Earlier Wednesday, during troubleshooting of the FTI lines, redundancies built into the backup system went down, leaving only half of the facility with radios and landline communications with other facilities. In addition, the terminal radar approach control facilities that interact with both Oakland Center and airport tower controllers did not get the data they needed to keep traffic moving efficiently.

www.natca.org...

Bet you don't see that in the MSM.

Even the redundant systems failed?

Something was up. How much you wanna bet the "subcontractors" worked for NSA.
They were hiding something in the area. Hmmm.

Mod Edit; Removed all caps title

[edit on 2-9-2009 by Gemwolf]

Don't worry I will be lookiing into it as the FAA as well as many other orginizations all have been preparing pandemic response under FEMA and National Security. The FAA is anticipating that employees will become sick and not allowed to work for weeks at a time. Which means a total shutdown of all airports and no travel, pending an FAA disaster. Also in the plan the FAA has been preparing quarantine stations as part of emergency preperations.

Originally posted by 12.21.12
Don't worry I will be lookiing into it as the FAA as well as many other orginizations all have been preparing pandemic response under FEMA and National Security. The FAA is anticipating that employees will become sick and not allowed to work for weeks at a time. Which means a total shutdown of all airports and no travel, pending an FAA disaster. Also in the plan the FAA has been preparing quarantine stations as part of emergency preperations.

Interesting theory. I've seen that major airports will become quarantine areas.

My thought is they are trying to divert data for some reason.

Or maybe they slipped in a fleet of UFO's

reply to post by Udontknowme


Actually once you do some research on smallpox, you should find some answers.

Lookie here, I already started.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Astounding information, good job OP.

Well here we go again, next time they will simply blame it on some squirrel gnawing on the main line.

It is becoming apparent that they want to see just how much the GP will swallow verses the lameness of the excuse.

reply to post by antar


You would think this would be reported in the media. It was release on the PR Newswire.
Source



[edit on 2-9-2009 by Udontknowme]

Okay, finally we are hearing about some alleged terror plots from the MSM.

3 highjackers alleged to plotted using soda bottles as bombs and plotting to launch an attack using airport toilets.

Cooincedictally, the FAA has been the subject of debate delaying flights and not allowing passengers to use restrooms.

www.timesonline.co.uk...

There is more to come.

[edit on 7-9-2009 by 12.21.12]

Around four years ago I was on a plane in the middle of the ocean when the entire West coast communication system went down. The pilot announced that we were being diverted to another city. I guess people got worried because he later clarified he was able to communicate with the another communications center. The worst thing is this was United and you can usually listen in on air traffic control using the headphones - but after he made the announcement he turned this option off. That's the extent of what we were told.


BTW:
As I was reading this thread I heard on the news a Southwest airlines jet had to make an emergency landing. The light went on which signaled a fire in the bathroom; however, when they landed no fire was found.