heres somethin amusing…. 🙂 …alright i’ll see you all in 5 days.
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Air traffic staff see ‘ghost planes’:
Ghost planes” are appearing on computer screens at the new national air traffic control centre at Swanwick.
It is believed the phantom aircraft, which appear over the North Sea, are caused by screens showing incorrect radar data.
It is the latest glitch to hit the £623m centre in Hampshire since it opened in January.
A spokesman for National Air Traffic Services (Nats) insisted safety was not being compromised by the non-existent planes.
Staff warned
The Nats spokesman said: “The ghosting problem has affected only a few screens and only affects an area of the North Sea.
“Safety has not been compromised, but, nevertheless, we felt it right to issue a notice to employees.”
Nats has now warned controllers at Swanwick of the problem and told them to keep aircraft further apart than normal if the phenomenon occurs.
The problem is only one of a number encountered by the multi-million pound centre.
Recently controllers said they were concerned they might misread the height of planes because of difficulty in reading numbers on their screens.
Controllers have said the latest “ghost” problem did not occur at their centre in West Drayton, west London – the centre that Swanwick is replacing.
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By: kev35 - 11th October 2002 at 17:52
RE: Air traffic staff see ‘ghost planes’
It’s interesting to think that a similar thing occurred either in 1939 or 1940, when the rudimentary radar of the time picked up a flight of RAF fighters somewhere down south. The problem was that their radar return was ghosting making it appear that the Luftwaffe was making a raid.Other aircraft were scrambled to intercept the ‘raid’ with the result that one RAF squadron attacked another and some of the aircraft were lost. It became known as the Battle of Barking Creek.
It seems strange that with all the technological advances made since that time a similar problem is still occurring. The amount of overspending on the project is obscene and it does make you wonder whether they will ever get the place to operate properly.
regards,
kev35
By: Ren Frew - 11th October 2002 at 13:37
RE: Air traffic staff see ‘ghost planes’
Maybe those stealth “Spirit” bombers aren’t as invisible as they think ?
By: Saab 2000 - 10th October 2002 at 15:30
RE: Air traffic staff see ‘ghost planes’
[updated:LAST EDITED ON 10-10-02 AT 03:31Â PM (GMT)]I don’t think its funny,its rediculous the amount of problems they’ve had at that centre.Millions must of been lost!
By: Hand87_5 - 10th October 2002 at 14:52
RE: Air traffic staff see ‘ghost planes’
[updated:LAST EDITED ON 10-10-02 AT 02:52 PM (GMT)]They should send some …. PHANTOM fighters to chase them 🙂
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October 10, 2002 at 1:50 pm