A computer failure which caused air traffic chaos at Dublin Airport this summer could happen again, the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) admitted today.
Thousands of passengers were grounded as airlines cancelled, diverted or delayed scores of flights in July when a malfunction hit the transport hub’s radar system.
Problems began when codes which identify incoming aircraft vanished from the computer screens of air traffic controllers for the fifth time in five weeks.
Capacity at Dublin Airport - which handles about 600 flights a day - was halved for almost three days until engineers rectified the system.
In its report into the ATM (Air Traffic Management) system malfunction, the IAA today admitted that it “cannot rule out the possibility of future failures of the ATM system”.
The IAA also insisted that at no time was a complete radar failure or any aircraft at risk.
“Worldwide, air navigation service providers cannot rule out the possibility of failures of ATM systems which regularly occur, but the Irish Aviation
Authority is confident that the measures recommended by the system supplier Thales ATM and now being implemented will minimise the effect of a recurrence of like or similar failures of its ATM system in the future,” said a spokeswoman.
The investigation said the system in Dublin operated without failure since it was commissioned in 2004 until June 2 when identification data for flights entering the system disappeared from the screens.
Similar malfunctions were reported for short periods on June 4th, 10th and July 2nd and 9th when air traffic controllers lost confidence in the system and shut it down.
Engineers later found the cause of the problem was a faulty network interface card - a hardware device attached to the air traffic controller’s computer system - and the failure of the local area network recovery mechanism.
The IAA said it sincerely regretted the inconvenience caused to the travelling public and airlines arising from the malfunction.
“Safety is our number one priority and all decisions were taken in the clear interest of safety,” it said.
“No aircraft was hazarded and safe operations were maintained through the management of traffic capacity.”
PA