Air traffic control company Skyguide had interpreted the error messages as false alarms two days before the network failure on June 15. “We took them very seriously, but we didn’t really understand the connections at the time,” Bristol said when asked a question in an interview. Otherwise, the malfunction could have been avoided.
Bristol said some of the test results matched the internal analysis. He was referring to the report commissioned by the Federal Department of Environment, Transportation, Energy and Communications (DETEC) to investigate the circumstances of the June 15 network failure.
The report also confirmed Skyguide’s overly conservative and risk-focused approach to system updates. Network components did not have the latest version of the software. Bristol said Skyguide will now loosen that stance.
(SDA)