Database Glitch Grounds American/US Airways

An anonymous reader writes "According to numerous news sources, all American Airlines and US Airways flights were grounded for two or three hours this morning. Both problems were caused by a computer glitch in the systems hosted by EDS. Quote: The operating system that drives the airline's flight plans went down."

Re:Operating System (singular)

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, Have they not learned about redundancy?

Settle down, we've all seen this before...

[the_seal]

Airport BSOD [capgemini.nl]

Last thing you want to hear

[xIcemanx]

I'm guessing the last thing you want to hear on a plane now is the pilot saying, "What do you mean, fatal exception error?"

>_ Why don't they swtich to Linux?

Re:Gee, gods, ...

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

... am I glad I'm flying Delta next Saturday :-) :-) :-)

Don't be so sure... [virgin.net]

Re:Operating System (singular)

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, Have they not learned about redundancy?

Re:I wonder if they could get any more vague..

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

What reason would they have for not giving even the smallest of hints as to the nature of this glitch?

The PATRIOT Act?

BSOL

[Anonymous Coward]

Blue screen of life. Because US Air cancelled the flight and we were forced to fly on a competent airline.

Steve Balmer

[Stevyn]

You know he's going to convince them not to switch to linux. First he's going to get on a plane...oh wait.

Re:Operating System (singular)

[njcoder]

"Have they not learned about redundancy?"

Yep, their so good, even the failure was replicated!

Re:Windows

[Anonymous Coward]

Windows was a given, now for bonus points, tell us which version.

Microsoft Bob. Now, where do I go to collect my bonus air miles?

I thought everyone knew

[Xerp]

NEVER open Windows in an airplane!

Guess IT Does Matter

[Anonymous Coward]

well, i guess IT Does Matter after all....

Re:Windows

[macdaddy357]

Not only that! It's Windows 98.

Re:Windows

[Anonymous Coward]

The following entities were NOT mentioned in the article you're linking to:

(1) American Airlines,
(2) US Airways,
(3) EDS.

So, what the hell are you talking about?
Why did you link to this article?
(I know, I know, because nobody will read it anyway)

You are such a nitpicker.

here's what happened

[Scythr0x0rs]

"It looks like you are flying an aeroplane, Would you like help?" YES!

What *REALLY* happened...

[catdevnull]

At about 4:30 a.m., the outsourced SysAdmin was setting up to do routine patches to Windows 2003 server nodes. But just before, he decided to check his e-mail with Outlook and he opened an important message from his system administrator advising him that his e-mail would be de-activated if he didn't open the important attachment. I think we all know what happened after that...

Re:Operating System (singular)

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm an MBA. Would you please explain the joke?

Re:Last thing you want to hear

[Brandybuck]

Q: How far can the plane fly after a fatal exception error?

A: All the way to the scene of the crash. Hell, it will probably beat the paramedics there by half an hour!

I found the root of the problem

[Anonymous Coward]

There is a line of code that raised the problem but is commented in Punjabi, I think it says "fuck this $3/hour job".

Re:This isn't what you think

[Anonymous Coward]

Even though this sounds dire, I have a feeling that this does nothing to compromise airline safety.

Actually, it does:

1. Airline flight scheduler mainframe goes down for three hours. Three hours of revenue are lost.
2. Customers affected by poor service migrate to other airlines. Additional revenue is lost.
3. Airline attempts to recover revenue by cutting costs.
   1. Jet maintencance schedules are lengthened.
   2. Frequency of mechanical failure increases.
4. Pilots' wages are decreased or frozen.
   1. Lower-skilled pilots are hired.
   2. Frequency of pilot error increases.

Safety is comprimised.

Re:Operating System (singular)

[mindriot]

Can somebody with mod points please mod this (-1, Redundant)?

Re:Operating System (singular)

[Fulcrum of Evil]

I'm an MBA. Would you please explain the joke?

Well, it's like when you have two people doing the same job in case one gets sick, except that, instead of firing one, you keep both around.

Re:Probably Sabre Holdings, rest probably wrong

[Qrlx]

and a new "stored procedures" feature

I guess the should have heeded the cabin crew's warning: Procedures stored in the overhead compartments may have shifted during flight.