Ohare-MIdway FAA Fire

[imoldernu]

The implications of the fire may be beyond imagination. My first guess is a two week mess and costs in the multi billions.
Naperville man charged in fire at FAA center that ground flights - Chicago Tribune

Flight Radar
http://www.flightradar24.com/40.15,-89.19/7

[MooreBonds]

Wow - I don't even want to think about how the heck Southwest handled all of that right at the beginning of the day!

With other airlines' hub-and-spoke system, you can work far more easily around one spoke going down. But when Southwest has 1 and 2 leg flights with so many cities, I'm sure it was a nightmare to reroute so many flights that involved Chicago in at least some part of the itinerary.

[donheff]

The fact that one disgruntled worker could wreak this much havoc demonstrates that we haven't learned very much about how to protect and back up essential infrastructure. Business continuity and disaster recovery plans are skin deep.

[jollystomper]

Quote:

Originally Posted by donheff The fact that one disgruntled worker could wreak this much havoc demonstrates that we haven't learned very much about how to protect and back up essential infrastructure. Business continuity and disaster recovery plans are skin deep.

+1000

Advising on and implementing IT disaster recovery/business continuity plans was a primary part of my job role for a number of years. It was shocking how many organizations never considered that disruption might come from "trusted" (meaning having key accesses) employees.

[imoldernu]

Look here for a one hour schedule at O'Hare:

(ORD) O'Hare International Airport Departures

A reality check when you scroll down the on-time and cancelled flights.

This is just one airport.. not even Midway.. Consider the trickledown throughout the rest of the country.

[Meadbh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by donheff The fact that one disgruntled worker could wreak this much havoc demonstrates that we haven't learned very much about how to protect and back up essential infrastructure. Business continuity and disaster recovery plans are skin deep.

+2000

A single point failure. I see an FMEA in ORD's future. After the fact.

[easysurfer]

Lot's of crazies in the news. This disgruntled worker, a manhunt in PA over a cop killer just to name a couple.

[Redbugdave]

I have been around some of the FAA facilities when I used to work in an official capacity. The FAA is somewhat behind in operations including software and hardware for the job expected in today's world. Their culture is old style, too. Maybe this will be another wake up call to get with modernization. The FAA usually does not have much problem getting funding since everything hinges on flight safety and airline profitability. The FAA reminds me of the USPS but they get better funding and don't have to meet profit goals.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redbugdave The FAA is somewhat behind in operations including software and hardware for the job expected in today's world. Their culture is old style, too.

Ya think?

Ex-BIL is an FAA GS-15. Essentially a good guy, but a bit erratic and and too much so for my sister. The stories he told....

[Brat]

I wouldn't wish the job of aircraft controller at a busy post on my worst enemy. It is a wonder that more of them don't go off the edge.

[Walt34]

That's exactly what ex-BIL did for many years. And yeah, it did have an effect on him. I went to classes with him in college before he met my sister.

[imoldernu]

Personal experience...
DIL was in Portland, with flight to O'Hare scheduled on the day of the fire. Her flight was cancelled, and despite trying for two days, on any airline, she was unable to make connections to anywhere near Chicago... Detroit, South Bend, Indianapolis, Bloomington, Milwaukee, Janesville... It wasn't until Monday, when she was able to get a flight, fortunately, by then, to Chicago.

In the meantime two days hotel, cabs, meals etc... extra cost.. one person...
approximately $500.

As the airlines losses are calculated we can only wonder at the total personal costs.

[Brat]

Next time PM me, she can at least sleep on our couch. We are only a couple blocks from the MAX. A gal in our building was also booked through Chicago. She ended up going PSX-SEA- Atlanta the next day.

[mpeirce]

We participated in this fun fest too.

DW had a flight scheduled for Friday afternoon from CMH thru MDW to OAK to visit DD for her birthday.

I was perusing the internet that morning and I noticed the news of the fire and saw that all the morning flights thru Chicago had been cancelled. DW's afternoon flight wasn't cancelled yet, but I had her keep an eye on it.

Of course it did get cancelled. First reaction was to call SWA, but the recording said that due to "unusual volume" the wait for a representative was about 3 hours. OK....

So back online and while there was no way to get to Oakland Friday, there were still a few saturday flights with seats. The SWA web site let her change her flight to the 6:30 slight from CMH to Baltimore to Oakland and still see her daughter after lunch Saturday and all day Sunday.

Her return flight Monday from OAK thru MDW to CMH got canceled (another predawn flight) but SWA rebooked her on a later flight that made it back to CMH by 7:30 PM. Not too bad considering.

[Koolau]

heh, heh as (at least one of) the forum's resident pessimist, I look at this and think "Stranded in an airport is a royal pain. What if this were a glitch in the world money/banking system?"

Imagine being a "millionaire" who couldn't buy a loaf of bread because all his assets and credit have "evaporated" or at least are now tied up someplace in cyberspace. We are all so vulnerable to a single "monkey wrench" that it really is amazing that more things like this do not happen - and much more often. Naturally, YMMV.