SERVER CRASHES AT FAA OPERATIONS CONTROL CENTER, UNION CALLS FOR BETTER AGENCY COORDINATION
- Details
- Published: July 18, 2013
WASHINGTON, DC – Professional Airways Systems Specialists (PASS) today called on the FAA to better coordinate with FAA technicians after a server at the Midstates Operations Control Center (MOCC) in Olathe, KS crashed during an equipment upgrade. The server crash forced the facility to transfer its responsibilities to the Pacific Operations Control Center (POCC) in San Diego, CA.
The MOCC coordinates equipment restoration activities and provides status information on air traffic control systems for 2,100 facilities in 17 states. During a server upgrade at approximately 11:00 p.m. CST on Tuesday, April 13, 2004, the server crashed leaving technicians at the MOCC unable to communicate electronically with FAA technicians in the field. At 6:30 CST Wednesday morning, the MOCC was forced to rollover to the POCC in San Diego because the server continued to be out of service.
“The Operations Control Centers are the 911 centers of our air traffic control system,” said PASS President Tom Brantley. “The OCCs collect, monitor and report data from field organization for NAS status, facility and service interruptions, special events and disasters. Now, when a technician calls the MOCC to report equipment outages they are put on hold because the POCC is flooded with calls. That is simply unacceptable.”
“These problems at the MOCC could have been alleviated if the FAA consulted with PASS on how the server upgrade would impact the air traffic control system,” Brantley explained. “Instead, management decided to act unilaterally and the technicians at the MOCC and POCC were caught unprepared.”
The server at the MOCC was restored at approximately 10:45 a.m. CST today.
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PASS represents more than 11,000 employees of the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Defense who install, maintain, support and certify air traffic control and national defense equipment, inspect and oversee the commercial and general aviation industries, develop flight procedures and perform quality analyses of the aviation systems. For more information, visit the PASS website at www.passnational.org.