Power outage hits NAIA Terminal 3

[oj88]

I'm interested to find out what kind of UPS they were using. For something that is classified as critical infrastructure, I'm sure they're the online double-conversion types. But I can't understand how a failed fan/blower took down everything. These UPSs have bypass modes.... which should address any internal faults that may have developed within the UPS.

Instead of receiving 240 volts, which is the standard, the system received 380 volts. This destroyed crucial equipment called very small aperture terminals (VSAT), which receive satellite data used by planes and air traffic management systems.

Getting 380V instead of 220-240V is a wiring and/or possibly a configuration issue, not a power surge. Most large datacenter UPSs are 3-phase. So it would seem that while they were panic-stricken trying to put everything back online, they powered the 220-240V equipment directly from 380V, which is one of the standard Line-to-Line voltage of a 220V/380V 3-phase source. You get 220V from Line-to-Neutral, in this case.

I think they're playing the blame game to minimize their own failures, pointing a finger at Meralco for the "power surge". If that were actually the case, it would've affected everyone in the neighborhood, not just CAAP.