NYTimes.com Article: Computer Failure Grounds and Delays Flights on 2 Airlines

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Computer Failure Grounds and Delays Flights on 2 Airlines

August 2, 2004
 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS





DALLAS, Aug. 1 (AP) - A computer problem grounded American
Airlines and US Airways flights from coast to coast on
Sunday morning, causing delays that lasted all day. A
computer company official said human error was the likely
cause.

American had its planes back up after two hours, while US
Airways flights resumed after about three.

"It appears to be unintentional user error," said Jeff
Baum, spokesman for the Electronic Data Systems
Corporation, the Plano-based company that runs the computer
system used by both airlines.

A Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman, Diane
Spitaliere, said both carriers asked the agency's air
traffic controllers to help communicate with planes to keep
them on the ground until the problem were fixed.

A US Airways spokeswoman, Amy Kudwa, said the airline's
flight-operation database malfunctioned. A similar problem
affected American's flight plan system, grounding about 150
flights, John Hotard, a spokesman, said.

The problem forced US Airways, based in Arlington, Va., to
delay about 100 flights. Separately, some flights were
canceled Sunday in Philadelphia, an airline hub, and New
York because of thunderstorms.

Mr. Hotard said flights for American, based in Fort Worth,
most likely would not be on schedule until Monday.

"All flights could run up to two hours behind," Mr. Hotard
said.

Mr. Baum said Electronic Data Systems and its clients took
the computer system off-line when they noticed
irregularities. He said the problems never posed a safety
issue and dealt mainly with departure readiness, like
flight scheduling, catering services and baggage
processing.

Mr. Baum added that it was too early to confirm who or what
caused the error and that Electronic Data Systems was
conducting an internal evaluation.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/02/national/02delay.html? 
ex=1092437616&ei=1&en=9e935e0aecf4b907

-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com
To manage your subscription, go to
 http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip

Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/