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Airline Hell

Tower Terror Travel: Hawaii Air Traffic Control Goes Dark

July 15, 2008 at 12:00 PM | 0 Comments

For a terrifying nine minute stretch last Thursday, all FAA air traffic control systems over the state of Hawaii went offline and radar scopes went black. Federal officials have said there were no close calls but, then again, who really knows? At least there were no crashes.

The cause of the mysterious computer blackout remains unknown, although a technician was working on the system right before it went down. Hawaii's airspace is relatively uncrowded but has enough regular comings and going to make even a mild outage like this a nail-biter.

Antiquated air traffic control systems are an epidemic in the US and get blamed for just about everything that makes commercial air travel miserable. The Congress has thus far refused to pony up for a much-needed new system, and the FAA is quarreling with airlines and private pilots about who will have to pay for what.

[Alex Salkever is the editor and founder of Hawaiirama.com, a Hawaii travel blog]

Related Stories:
· Nine-Minute Blackout Grips Isle Air Radar [Star Bulletin]
· The Future of Air Traffic Control [IHT]
· Airline Hell coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: lrargerich]