Power outage hits NAIA Terminal 3

**Monseratto** · January 11th, 2023 09:00 PM

After the PH, sa US naman... All planes are being forced to land at the nearest airport. US airspace is no fly zone.

US flight control system hit by technical glitch - BBC News

**uls** · January 11th, 2023 10:46 PM

Originally Posted by Monseratto

After the PH, sa US naman... All planes are being forced to land at the nearest airport. US airspace is no fly zone.

US flight control system hit by technical glitch - BBC News

baka sisihin nila sa russia o china

**glenn_duke** · January 11th, 2023 10:50 PM

Originally Posted by uls

baka sisihin nila sa russia o china

Malamang, ginawang testing ground caap, nung nag work ginawa sa US.

**Dr.Kamiya** · January 11th, 2023 10:58 PM

Hindi din marunong magsaksak ng single phase appliance sa 3-phase power mga technician ng FAA?

**glenn_duke** · January 12th, 2023 12:50 AM

Originally Posted by Dr.Kamiya

Hindi din marunong magsaksak ng single phase appliance sa 3-phase power mga technician ng FAA?

Baka pinoy, pirated galing caap.

**Miles_on** · January 12th, 2023 09:05 AM

Ah, reported na pala

**Devastator** · January 12th, 2023 03:55 PM

Pati sa U.S. rin pala

Access Denied

**Flipo** · January 13th, 2023 08:14 AM

Originally Posted by Devastator

Pati sa U.S. rin pala

Access Denied

20 years to launch | Philstar.com

20 years to launch
SKETCHES - Ana Marie Pamintuan - The Philippine Star
January 13, 2023 | 12:00am

At least we are not alone; Ninoy Aquino International Airport, hindi ka nag-iisa.

Last Wednesday night (our time), news broke about a “power outage” that prompted the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to ground nearly 10,000 flights in that country.

The problem, however, was fixed in just 90 minutes and flights, although delayed, gradually resumed.

Yesterday, the FAA identified the cause of the outage as a “damaged database file” that corrupted both the main system and its backup. The FAA ruled out a cyber attack.

An FAA official said an engineer had “replaced one file with another” in the NOTAM or Notice to Air Missions system – used to notify pilots and airport ground personnel of special alerts and hazards. The FAA described it as an “honest mistake that cost the country millions.”

In the case of the Jan. 1 breakdown of the Communications, Navigation and Surveillance system for Air Traffic Management at the NAIA, a defective cooling fan was pinpointed as the cause of the CNS / ATM’s uninterrupted power supply breaking down. Unfortunately, the back-up UPS also failed to kick in.

It took several days, and viral jokes about the foolishness of plugging a 220-volt line into the 380-volt commercial grid, which fried the CNS / ATM, before authorities pinned the blame not on human error but on a defective circuit breaker.

Finally taking a direct hand in the mess, President Marcos visited the NAIA, apologized to the public for the national embarrassment, commended the response of the officials concerned, and said emergency procurements were being made for UPS and circuit breakers.

The “technical issues” that shut down Philippine airspace on the first day of the year, however, keep branching out into other issues.

* * *
It looks like there’s more than just politically motivated chismis to the story that P13 billion supposed to be spent for the maintenance of the CNS / ATM instead went to “beautification” of the airport.

Even before the pandemic in 2019, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) had reportedly proposed a P139-million project to upgrade four to five CNS / ATM subsystems, to ensure that all data are backed up and protected from corruption.

When the new administration came in, CAAP reportedly proposed on Aug. 31 last year the installation of an independent backup for the CNS / ATM, to be placed in another location, at a cost of P13 billion.

There were also initial reports about CAAP personnel muttering under their breath that money for CNS / ATM maintenance went to the pandemic response (P3 billion for the “Bayanihan” fund in pandemic year 2020). According to some reports, CAAP has not yet fully paid for the system, even after the warranty for it has expired. The Turkish maker now reportedly wants full payment first and a fee to resume the regular maintenance work.

Transport Secretary Jaime Bautista said the CAAP conducts daily inspection of the system. He said the UPS has a battery with a four-year life, which was last changed in 2020.