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The FAA identified a recent software
upgrade at the Leesburg, VA, high-altitude radar facility as the source of
Saturday�s automation problems. The agency is working closely with its
contractor, Lockheed Martin Corp., to prevent future occurrences.
Despite the outage, air traffic controllers safely handled 70 to 88 percent
of Saturday�s scheduled arrivals and departures at the region�s three major
airports by using backup systems and procedures. The availability rate of the
En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) system has been higher than 99.99
percent since it was completed nationwide earlier this year. Background:
A new function in the latest ERAM software
upgrade provided individual controllers with the ability to set up a customized
window of frequently referenced data. This information was supposed to be
completely removed from the system as controllers deleted it. However, as controllers adjusted their unique settings, those changes
remained in memory until the storage limit was filled. This consumed processing
power needed for the successful operation of the overall system. By temporarily suspending the use of this function, we have eliminated the
possibility of this particular issue from occurring again. The FAA is working
with Lockheed on a permanent solution and the company is closely examining why
the issue was not identified during testing.
*The FAA reduced the arrival and departure rates
in the region from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. for safety reasons. That resulted in about
70 percent of the average normal Saturday traffic at BWI, 72 percent at DCA, and
88 percent at IAD. This information was originally relayed on Sunday, August 16,
2015
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