[MilCom] Miami Center

[Jack Nesmith]

      Air Traffic System Crashes in S. Florida
      Dec 05 2:52 PM US/Eastern






A computerized air traffic system experienced a temporary outage in South 
Florida, forcing controllers to ground some flights and resulting in at 
least four instances in which planes almost came too close together, 
officials said Tuesday.
Monday's outage affecting the Miami Center radar complex lasted about an 
hour, but a backup system was activated and flights in the air were not in 
danger, said Kathleen Bergen, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman 
in Atlanta.

"There was never a loss of communication with flights and controllers did 
not lose their radar displays," Bergen said.

Still, the outage caused confusion and tension among controllers in Miami, 
who had trouble establishing and maintaining aircraft identification because 
enough flight plan information was not available through their computers, 
said Steven Wallace, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers 
Association in Miami.

The problem was caused by failure of a telecommunications cable linking 
high-altitude air traffic control centers in Miami and San Juan, Puerto 
Rico, Bergen said.

Bergen said that as a precaution the FAA grounded about 60 flights 
controlled by Miami Center at airports in Florida and at Nassau, Bahamas. 
The average delay was about 30 minutes, he said.

Wallace said there were four cases in which planes almost violated FAA rules 
that flights at high altitudes must remain at least 5 miles apart 
horizontally and 1,000 feet vertically.