Reports say that the Memphis Center ATC lost all frequencies about 2 hours ago and that its airspace was shut down.
The Fox television station in Memphis reports that FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said a ground stop had been in place for any flight that would transition through the airspace. “We held them on the ground wherever they were, whether it was Miami, Seattle, Los Angeles, Boston,” she is quoted as saying.
The airspace was completely cleared at 1:30 ET.
The reason being given for the shutdown?
“Equipment failures.”
But according to FAA VP of Terminal Services David Johnson said in a letter to my Senator that they can move boundaries of ARTCC center so that there is no stoppage of flights.
“The Miami ARTCC contingency plan activates a process allowing Jacksonville ARTCC to modify their boundary to provide air traffic services to the southern most Florida TRACON facilities, which include Fort Myers, Miami and the Key West Approach Control.”
Look at the US Senate page on http://www.faahope.com and read the letter he wrote.
So what happened? Why can’t you just through a switch like you say you can? Come on Kathleen answer this question.
ahhhhh…Kathleen? The only Kathleen I know is the governor of Louisiana.
Not sure what you are saying here with your note. But it appears that some kind of failure on the part of the fiber optic line providing communications to the ATC center was the problem.
As for “throwing a switch” — I’m not sure what you are referring to. I didn’t say anyone could throw a switch, I was merely discussing how fiber optic lines can apparently be made less vulnerable to cuts in those lines.