Air traffic chaos after engineers were working from home

Published

1 year ago

March 14, 2024

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Air travel chaos that caused delays for more than 700,000 passengers was fuelled by a “lack of planning” and engineers working from home, investigators have said.

Hundreds of flights were cancelled and thousands of people were stranded abroad by an air traffic control (ATC) system fault on 28 August last year.

It was Bank Holiday Monday, one of the busiest days of the year for air travel.

Airlines lost around £100m in refunds, rebookings, hotel rooms and refreshments after air traffic control provider National Air Traffic Services (Nats) suffered a technical glitch while processing a flight plan.

The report estimates that more than 300,000 people suffered cancellations, while approximately 95,000 endured delays of over three hours, and at least a further 300,000 were hit by shorter delays.

An interim report, published on Thursday by the regulator the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), said an inquiry panel found no “multi-agency rehearsal of the management of an incident of this nature and scale”.

It’s the sort of dry run that’s a regular feature of planning in other sectors, the panel said.

The report said there was “a significant lack of pre-planning and co-ordination for major events and incidents” focusing on how to put things right.

Nats wouldn’t usually schedule planned maintenance work on public holidays, the report said, so engineering staff would normally “be available on standby at remote locations – typically at home”.

It took 90 minutes for a Level 2 on-call engineer to get there and carry out a full system restart which couldn’t be done from home, but still, no one called for a more senior engineer “for more than three hours after the initial failure”.

The flight plan in question listed two waypoints, or locations, with the same abbreviations, causing the system to generate a “critical exception error” and shut down to “prevent the transfer of apparently corrupt flight data to the air traffic controllers”, the report said.

Many affected passengers had to pay up front for alternative flights, food and accommodation – and submitted claims to airlines for reimbursement – despite the carriers being legally required to provide these.

The financial cost to passengers was “very considerable”, but the panel noted that the “stress and anxiety” was “at least as serious”.

Tim Alderslade, chief executive of Airlines UK, which represents UK-registered carriers, said the report contains “damning evidence that Nats’ basic resilience planning and procedures were wholly inadequate and fell well below the standard that should be expected for national infrastructure of this importance.”

Some travellers were stranded overseas for several days.

A Nats spokesman said it had already been working on improvements.

UK

Girl, 10, and father, who died in caravan park fire in Lincolnshire named

Published

8 hours ago

April 6, 2025

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Girl, 10, and father, who died in caravan park fire in Lincolnshire named

Two people who died following a fire at a caravan site near Skegness have been named by police.

Lincolnshire Police said 48-year-old Lee Baker and his 10-year-old daughter Esme Baker, both from the Nottingham area, were killed in the blaze.

However, formal identification is still yet to take place and “could take some time”, the force said.

Emergency services were alerted to a fire at Golden Beach Holiday Park, in the village of Ingoldmells, at 3.53am on Saturday.

In a statement issued through police, a member of the Baker family said: “Lee and Esme were excited to be spending the first weekend of the holidays together.

“We are all utterly devastated at what’s happened.

“This loss is incomprehensible at the moment, and we ask for people to give us space to process this utterly heartbreaking loss.”

A GoFundMe page set up for the victims’ family described the father and daughter as “two peas in a pod” who were “both happy-go-lucky people who loved life”. It has so far raised more than £3,000.

The police force, together with Lincolnshire Fire & Rescue, are continuing to investigate the cause of the blaze.

Detective Inspector Lee Nixon said: “We believe we might be close to arriving at a working hypothesis.

“We are working hard to validate the facts available to us to be able to provide answers for the family and loved ones of those who were very tragically taken by this fire.

“Yet the evident intensity of the fire has made this task incredibly challenging.”

Dan Moss, from Lincolnshire Fire & Rescue, said: “Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with the family at this time.

“Our Fire Investigation Team is working with colleagues from Lincolnshire Police, and a full investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing.

“Once investigations are complete, local fire crews and our community fire safety team will be on hand to talk to people in the area and address any fire safety concerns they may have, at what will be an upsetting time.”

UK

Man arrested over wildfire that triggered ‘major incident’ in Northern Ireland

Published

9 hours ago

April 6, 2025

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Man arrested over wildfire that triggered 'major incident' in Northern Ireland

A man has been arrested by police investigating a “significant” wildfire that triggered a major incident in Northern Ireland.

More than 100 firefighters and 15 fire appliances were deployed on Saturday to Sandbank Road, Hilltown, to tackle the blaze which is believed to have been caused deliberately, fire chiefs said.

Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) said the fire had a front of approximately two miles “including a large area of forestry close to property”.

It was extinguished at 2.53am on Sunday and the major incident status lifted, the NIFRS said.

“The cause of this fire is believed to have been deliberate,” chief fire and rescue officer Aidan Jennings said.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said on Sunday that a 25-year-old man had been arrested “on suspicion of arson being reckless as to whether life would be endangered, and non-related driving offences”.

“He remains in custody at this time as enquiries continue into the circumstances surrounding the fire,” the force added.

Various fires erupted across England this week amid uncharacteristically warm and dry conditions for the time of year.

On Saturday, helicopters were deployed to tackle Scotland’s fourth wildfire this week, with police saying a blaze “which started in the Newton Stewart area has spread northwards and is expected to reach the Loch Doon area of East Ayrshire around 12am on Sunday”.

Police Scotland added: “As a precautionary measure members of the public are asked to avoid the Loch Doon area and anyone who may be camping in the area is advised to leave.”

Elsewhere in England, Devon and Cornwall Police said they were assisting the fire service with temporary road closures on the A30 in the Bolventor area as they tackle “a number of fires” on moorland.

In Dorset, Moors Valley Country Park was forced to close after multiple wildfires broke out there on Wednesday.

Separate incidents were then reported at Upton Heath in Poole on Wednesday, and nearby Canford Heath in the early hours of Thursday.

Friday was officially the warmest day of the year so far – with temperatures in the south of England reaching 23C (73.4F) – the highest since 21 September last year, according to the Met Office.

The weather conditions triggered a “severe” wildfire rating for parts of the UK on Tuesday.

UK

Man shot dead in Stanley, County Durham

Published

9 hours ago

April 6, 2025

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Police are investigating after a man was shot dead in County Durham.

Officers were called to an address in Elm Street, Stanley, at about 5.20pm on Saturday after reports of a “disturbance”, Durham Constabulary said.

A man in his 50s was found to have been shot and despite the efforts of paramedics he was pronounced dead at the scene.

His family have been told and are being supported by specially trained officers.

Specialist crime scene investigators are at the scene, and officers are carrying out house-to-house enquiries.

A cordon is in place and is expected to stay there for some time.

Detective Superintendent Neil Fuller said: “This is a truly shocking incident in which a man has been shot and has sadly died.”

He added: “Residents may see an increased police presence in the area. I would like to thank them for their support while we carry out this investigation.

“Our thoughts are with the man’s family at this time.”

Durham Constabulary has urged anyone who witnessed the incident or has dashcam footage or CCTV to contact the force.