Radar failure in New Zealand temporarily grounds all flights

All of New Zealand's international and domestic flights were temporarily grounded Tuesday afternoon after authorities reported that the nationwide radar system had failed.

Airways New Zealand, which provides navigational services, wrote on Twitter that it experienced a radar failure at about 2:48 p.m. (0248 GMT).

It said in a later statement that it had identified the issue, tested the system, and resumed full service about two hours after the flights stopped. The agency did not say what caused the problem.

Radar failure in New Zealand temporarily grounds all flights

This is just the latest in a growing number of mysterious airport incidents. Only 2 days ago a cyberattack left airplanes grounded in Poland and according to a Wired article All Airlines Have the Security Hole That Grounded Polish Planes At the beginning of June a "mysterious" problem grounded all United Airlines flights in the U.S. This is one to - ahem - keep on the radar!


Further incidents:

12 Dec 2014 - Flights disrupted after computer failure at UK control centre - ATS thread: London airspace closed due to IT failure

26 Sep 2014 - Employee sabotage grounded 2,000 Chicago flights, authorities allege - ATS thread: Flights Halted at Both Chicago Airports Due to Fire at FAA Radar Facility - Arson to Blame

Also this year, and not normal:

Belgium: Power failure

www.spitsnieuws.nl...

Netherlands: Power failure

www.spitsnieuws.nl...

a reply to: EartOccupant

Yep, if we cast our nets wider (not just airports) there are a lot of news items lately that may be part of a bigger pattern:


Apr 17 - Global Futures Slide After Worldwide Bloomberg Outage, China Tumbles On Short Selling Boost - ATS thread: Bloomberg terminals hit by ‘unprecedented’ global outage


This happened just after a series of black outs:


March 27 Netherlands
March 30 Turkey
April 1 Italy
April 7 Washington

a reply to: MindBodySpiritComplex


But I agree, It crossed my mind as well , that someone is showing their muscles..
I admit , it is pure speculation, but hey.. strange things happen these days.

Could the coronal mass ejections (CMEs) hitting earth be interfering with radar? I saw a story about how we're expecting some G4 storms as a result of recent activity on the sun.
Just a thought when I read of this....
Here's a link: spaceweather.com...

It wasn't an "airport" incident - the NZ radar control is located off airport in Christchurch.

Airways NZ (which is the ATC organisation in NZ) balked at the cost of maintaining a 2nd facility at Ohakea....so guess what happens when you don't have adequate backup??!!

a reply to: EartOccupant

...And that issue at LAX by a "U-2" awhile back

Cool avatar BTW.

a reply to: StratosFear

I'm surprised the US system is still working at all, let alone only having a few issues now and then.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: StratosFear

I'm surprised the US system is still working at all, let alone only having a few issues now and then.

Are US airports that badly maintained? Or did you mean something else by that? Poking around briefly there are several cases of malfunction at LAX but not so much other airports.

Is it solar?

a reply to: StratosFear

The ATC system in the US is old as hell. They've had plans to replace it for like 20 years, but since they fund the FAA through a continuing resolution instead of budget, they can't legally replace it until it fails somewhere. So it's being replaced and upgraded a bit at a time.

a reply to: Zaphod58

no it isn't - the NextGen plan is well underway - as is similar work all around the world - even New Zealand has its New Southern Sky equivalent also well underway.

worldwide ATC systems are going to have a massive change in the next 10 years.

a reply to: Aloysius the Gaul

There have been issues and delays in implementing it. Some portions have been installed and implemented, while others are delayed, budgets are being cut, etc.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Which is all pretty normal for such a major change in the way things are going to be done - the idea that it would slide in seamlessly is a bit naïve!

Probably just a system upgrade.
a reply to: MindBodySpiritComplex

a reply to: Aloysius the Gaul

I didn't say that it would, did I? But they're having significant issues with some aspects. Delays that could push it back years. They're talking about delays that will push it past the European system going active.