75 seconds of silence: another air traffic control system glitch grounds flights from Hong Kong
Flight data goes missing from screens due to fault related to similar incident on November 29
Another glitch, the worst so far in terms of the time span, hit the airport’s new air traffic control system on Monday, halting outbound flights for four minutes.
The fault was observed at about noon, when part of the flight data disappeared from radar screens for 75 seconds before reappearing, a Civil Aviation Department spokeswoman said.
Traffic controllers stopped handling outbound flights for four minutes as a prudent measure.
The spokeswoman said flight call signs and flight speeds went missing, though flight positions and altitudes were still available on the screens.
When a previous major glitch occured on November 29, information including flight call signs and speed disappeared from screens for about 26 seconds, halting outbound flights for 15 minutes. Flight position and altitude data was not affected.