“It was a waste of money because we found it to be useless. … It was unsafe to use,” former CAAP director general William Hotchkiss II

In its position paper, PATCA further explained how the system’s computers would reboot unexpectedly and how data displayed on an aircraft’s position and altitude were “not credible.” 🤦‍♂️

Gov't purchased P511-M Manila air traffic system in 2009 but never used it | #Philippines #NAIADown #NAIA | Rappler
https://www.rappler.com/business/government-purchased-manila-air-traffic-system-2009-never-used-it/

Someone finally dug up the history of the air traffic management system & did enough analysis to construct a detailed timeline of the incident. Whatever the root cause was, this obviously long standing problem should have been fixed during Duterte's term as president.

What we know so far: #Philippines' air traffic system fiasco | #NAIADown #NAIA | Rappler
https://www.rappler.com/business/what-we-know-philippines-air-traffic-management-system-fiasco-january-2023/

"The chairperson of the Senate Committee on Public Services, Poe said the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (#CAAP) has a lot to answer for, given that the Manila Electric Company (#Meralco) already said that there was a steady supply of power from its end."

Senators vow probe on New Year #NAIA power outage incident |#Philippines #NAIADown| GMA News Online
https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/856061/senators-vow-probe-on-new-year-naia-power-outage-incident/story/

It was complete chaos, NAIA was unprepared to cope with the breakdown of air travel which resulted in thousands of passengers needing updates, transportation, food & accomodations.

Naia power outage, tech glitch shut PH airspace | #NAIADown #Philippines #AirTravelPH | Inquirer News
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1711413/naia-power-outage-tech-glitch-shut-ph-airspace?utm_source=gallery&utm_medium=direct

"#MANILA, #Philippines – On the heels of “technical issues” that halted hundreds of flights on New Year’s Day, Sunday, January 1, Transport Secretary Jaime Bautista said that the government may need more than ₱13 billion to upgrade the country’s air traffic management system to prevent future flight suspensions."

DOTr chief: 'Huge amount of money' needed for urgent air traffic system upgrade | #NAIADown | Rappler
https://www.rappler.com/business/dotr-chief-huge-amount-money-needed-urgent-air-traffic-system-upgrade/

I normally don't like quoting from the #birdsite but it's unavoidable. Snapshots below taken from original tweet here:

https://twitter.com/flightradar24/status/1609399161228517379

Image on the left shows #AirTrafficPH from 2 weeks ago. Image on the right was during the height of the #NAIADown crisis. Full Senate investigation ito sigurado 😬

Piecing it together. It was no power outage - the UPS(Uninterruptible Power Supply) of the main CNS/ATM system failed ( probably due to a power spike it couldn't handle). Whatever they did to try to fix it, the backup CNS/ATM system (same site) also got hit & failed.

What a mess. It'll take 3 days to fix the air travel backlog - betting it's a week 🤞

Officials cite ‘outdated’ system for glitch that closed Philippine airspace | #NAIADown #AirTrafficPH| GMA News Online
https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/856026/officials-cite-outdated-system-for-glitch-that-closed-philippine-airspace/story/

It looks like the main CNS/ATM system went down due to the reported power outage & then the backup CNS/ATM system also failed. Was the backup system ever tested?

"In a press briefing on Sunday night, CAAP Director General Manuel Tamayo said the air traffic management system was restored at 7:45 p.m. or 10 hours after the system went down at 9:49 a.m."

Technical glitch in NAIA air traffic system fixed; full operation restored | #AirTrafficPH #NAIADown | Manila Bulletin
https://mb.com.ph/2023/01/01/technical-glitch-on-naia-air-traffic-system-fixed-full-operation-restored-at-745-p-m/