UK Controllers Say Air Traffic System 'Not Safe'

Jack Spine writes "Air traffic control technology being implemented in one of the major transport hubs in the UK is 'not safe,' according to air traffic controllers. The electronic flight data system (EFD) being phased in at Glasgow Prestwick Airport is too slow to handle real-time inputs, and could not cope with an outage that isolated it from the main air traffic system. Controllers had to scramble to handle the situation. Good luck if you're traveling to the UK anytime soon."

Re:Not just the UK

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

You would think this is one of those places where the technology would be constantly updated, but not so.

Maybe you want the software which prevents your plane colliding with any of three dozen others written in php on a LAMP stack with automatic updates to your latest iDink app, but I don't.

Give me a 40 year old system written in COBOL any day of the week. At least there's a chance that was written by a Real Programmer(in TECO naturally).

Re:Been there before

[DNS-and-BIND]

And...uh...OK, how many planes crashed as a result? What, exactly, was the state of computer technology in 1981? Oh wait, the whole thing was a union power play? Let's all remember, Reagan fired the controllers when they voluntarily walked off the job in violation of federal law (they were government employees, imagine US Marines walking off the job by comparison), demanded $10,000 raises (in 1981 dollars), and a French style 32-hour work week. Huh. It's as if the whole "not safe" thing was a cassus belli> bullshit excuse for massive raises at the taxpayers' expense (the means you and me.) Imagine the world if public sector unions had instead won this battle and felt free to impose their selfish wants on the rest of us. Scary, eh?

Re:Been there before

[drsquare]

Imagine the world if public sector unions had instead won this battle and felt free to impose their selfish wants on the rest of us. Scary, eh?

Yeah, America might have full employment, a better work-life balance, and higher incomes.

But I'm sure you're much better off after thirty years of Reaganomics...