airazurxtror wrote:...
Eurocontrol gave electrical failure at the Belgian center as the cause but gave no further details on whether backup systems were available.
Any explanation of the latest Belgocontrol fiasco ?
No sure what to make of this.
There are indeed redundant power supplies such as D-UPS whereby a generator kicks in immediately in case of mains failure.
I doubt it is the electrical power supply that failed. I hope it is not a question of bits and bytes or worse.
I completely fail to understand why (just for an example) ANR-LCY service needs to be interrupted. Surely they could fly either under control of EBAW tower or EBOS tower, or VFR, until clear of Belgian airspace? Or would the company procedures preclude flying VFR? It wasn't so in the VLM days, I believe.
It also makes me wonder: the various "Brussels Control" frequencies will certainly be affected; AFAIK TWR frequencies are handled locally, so they should be available. But who handles the APP frequencies/services of EBCI/EBLG/EBCI? Are they operated locally, or from Steenokkerzeel? Even if this last, could not an emergency service be set up at the various control towers? Such a plan B could (and, IMHO, should) be provided in a documented and periodically tested plan B aka "disaster recovery procedures".
If the complete site has failed, there will be an impact not only on the comm's equipment: IT will be out, too, so that the controllers do not have the information on which to base their work.
And don't get me started on the subject of emergency generators not starting when they're expected to - every IT infrastructure professional has lived through a couple of horror stories in that department. My most picturesque instance was at NMBS/SNCB...
Approaches are managed at regional airports for EBLG/EBCI.
In some companies, flying VFR is an exclusion for insurances.
If the system is down, it means that all the flight plan processing is down to, and that coordinations are not automatic any more, and in this case, you have time to do everything but manual coordinations...
From Eurocontrol: Latest situation: Belgocontrol restarting systems but it will all take some time.
Brussels FIR unavailable until 1530 UTC, due to ATC equipment failure.
A/D EBBR also unavailable for both inbounds and outbounds due to the same reason.
NOTAM A1137/15 refers.
NMOC has been informed that all systems in Belgocontrol (radar, VCS and frequencies) are going to be restarted.
Still not possible at this stage to provide a recovery time, although Belgocontrol are confident to reopen airports and radar sectors at reduced rate.
You have to expect moderate to high delays all day to/from all Belgian airports and all flights crossing/overflying Belgian airspace (GND-FL245).
In order to ease the flight planning situation the following RAD restrictions have been lifted: EB4010, EBLF4009, LF4044, YX4005, LS2505B, EDLS1010A.
Coordination between EHAM EDDY and EGTT are ongoing in oder to exclude some traffic from EBBU airspace.
For EBBR, the departure tolerance window has been extended until 1240 UTC.
Parking availability of nearby airports:
ELLX - 6 heavy, 1 medium
EHRD - 1heavy, 6 medium
EHAM - unavailable for diversions
EHEH - unavailable for diversions
LFQQ - unavailable for diversions
NMOC is closely monitoring the situation and any update will be communicated as soon as we have it.
Due to an electrical failure at Belgian Air Traffic Control (Belgocontrol),it is currently impossible to land or take off at Brussels Airport. As a result we are unfortunately forced to suspend our flights.
Our priority is to inform our guests and to find alternative solutions as soon as possible.
If you are travelling today, please check the status of your flight before coming to the airport:
Updates will be available here, on our Facebook page and onTwitter, as soon as more information becomes available.
Rebooking options
Passengers holding a ticket for a cancelled flight, are offered the possibility to rebook their flight free of charge. Rebooking can be done at the Brussels Airlines ticketing desk at the airport or our Service Center (tel. +32 (0)2 723 23 62). If your flight was booked via a travel agent, we kindly ask you to contact your travel agency.
In case your flight is cancelled and you do not wish to travel at another date, you have the possibility to choose for a refund.
We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this causes for our passengers.
SN2310 Stokholm – Brussels -> diverted to Liege Airport (bus transport to Brussels)
SN2580 Berlin – Brussels -> diverted to Maastricht airport (bus transport to Brussels)
SN3108 Olbia – Brussels -> diverted to Luxemburg airport (bus transport to Brussels)
SN3696 Barcelona – Brussels -> diverted to Paris CDG (bus transport to Brussels)
SN3154 Milan Malpensa – Brussels -> diverted to Hamburg (flight will continue to Brussels at 13h15)
SN3556 Bordeaux – Brussels -> diverted to Lille airport
SN2902 Vienna – Brussels -> diverted to Dusseldorf airport
sn26567 wrote:Diversion of the day: SN3154, which went to HAM. Almost as far from BRU as its origin airport, MXP!
Source: Steven @airwaysfoodie
indeed, but possibly its the smartest divertion of them all, as this plane will be used to operate a scheduled back flight from HAM once BRU is reopened, if I understand the list posted above correctly.
Why don't they have a back-up plan that for instance they have alternate radar facilities or that Military ATC takes over? This is going to cost all airlines a ton of money.
Perhaps invest less money in shiny glass buildings that no one but themselves can see and invest more money in the technical department?
Apuneger wrote:New update via Eurocontrol NOP: EBBR reopening at 1200 UTC Brussels FIR andA/D EBBR are reopening at 1200 UTC with reduced rate.
In order to ease the flight planning situation the following RAD restrictions have been lifted: EB4010, EBLF4009, LF4044, YX4005, LS2505B, EDLS1010A.
NMOC is closely monitoring the situation and any update will be communicated as soon as we have it.
Thanks Ivan, nice to hear.
Last edited by Passenger on 27 May 2015, 14:08, edited 1 time in total.
Flanker2 wrote:Forgot to pay the electricity bills?
Why don't they have a back-up plan that for instance they have alternate radar facilities or that Military ATC takes over? This is going to cost all airlines a ton of money.
Perhaps invest less money in shiny glass buildings that no one but themselves can see and invest more money in the technical department?
You're right on the priorities on the investments at Belgocontrol. Technical department and manpower for example really lack...
Regarding the back up plan, you cannot duplicate the whole system, and there are legal concerns when military takes over. They are not trained to handle the same trafic, same separation, same phraseology, and then what happens if there's an incident, who is responsible etc...
The military have neither the manpower nor the training nor the equipment nor the IT infrastructure to take over completely from Belgocontrol. They could operate as a plan B so that emergency services can operate with optimal security - and I'd not be surprised if they were doing that right now.
From their point of view, they might even be at an increased level of vigilance because all the world has been informed Belgian airspace is controlled less tightly than normal.
La panne d’électricité qui a provoqué mercredi la fermeture de l’espace aérien belge depuis 09h45 est due à une surcharge sur le réseau électrique, a-t-on appris auprès de Belgocontrol. Sollicité par l’agence Belga, le gestionnaire du réseau électrique en Belgique, Elia, précise que le problème n’est pas survenu sur son propre réseau mais sur le réseau interne de Belgocontrol.
According to Belgocontrol, the power breakdown that caused the closure of the Belgian airspace was due to an overload on the electrical network. Solicited by Belga, the manager of the electricity network in Belgium, Elia , points out that the problem did not occur on its own network but on the internal network of Belgocontrol .