Airport radar crash: Was it a cyber attack?

[Break the Silence]

NEW DELHI: The two-hour-long radar failure at IGI Airport on Thursday has sent alarm bells ringing both within the aviation and security circles. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)'s probe into the shocking incident will examine the possibility of a cyber attack — the kind that is witnessed by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and cabinet secretariat. It will also check how secure the vital ATC systems are against cyber threats and look at ways to firewall them.

While the probe is still on, top Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials ruled out cyber attack behind the ATC crash. "We made the mistake of not delinking the radar screen — that first went blank — from the others when we were trying to revive it. We should have put the blank radar on simulator mode. Revival always carries the risk of the system crashing," sources said.

Top DGCA officials said they would comment on the cause only after the probe. "What has happened is simply unacceptable. The entire IGI radar system collapsing with hundreds of aircraft controlled by Delhi ATC going off screens is a worst-case scenario. We want to find out all the factors — including cyber attack — that can trigger such a collapse. We must have a proper safety plan for each of those factors," a source said.

Air traffic controllers, who proved to be the real hero on Thursday night by controlling aircraft movements in blind conditions, are also up in arms. They want an independent back-up system that can be switched on in case of all others collapsing. "How can revival of such a vital thing be allowed to take almost two hours? AAI must work out a system of revival that takes a maximum of two to three minutes. We are lucky that there was no major disaster that night," a senior traffic controller said.

Delhi airport systems are under the regulatory radar after a dismal winter. While this was to be the first winter when Delhi had a new domestic terminal along with a new runway that opened in 2008, technical glitches made operations at IGI unreliable from early December. "The airport has witnessed three disasters — surface movement radar problems, CAT III-B glitches on day one of the fog and radar failure. On the airline side, deployment of CAT III-B trained personnel has not been adequate. As a combined result, all our attempts to have a problem-free fog period have come to a naught," a aviation ministry official said.

Airport radar crash: Was it a cyber attack? - Delhi - City - The Times of India

 

[Break the Silence]

Major radar crash at Delhi international airport


New Delhi: The sophisticated air traffic management system at the IGI Airport, which was operationalised in March, crashed this evening disrupting flight movements for almost 30 minutes.



Terminal 3 begins commercial operations

State-run Air India's flight AI-102 from New York Wednesday evening became the first official scheduled flight to arrive at India's swankiest and largest terminal at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in the capital.

The flight, which arrived here at 4.45 p.m. with 200 passengers on board, marked the start of commercial flight operations at what is officially known as Terminal 3 (T3).




The passengers, who arrived from the New York's John. F. Kennedy International airport, were pleasantly surprised to find such a state-of-the-art infrastructure in India as T3.

"Jet Airways will have the distinction of being the first private carrier to bring its passengers through T3, when its flight from Kathmandu lands at 5.15 p.m.," an airport official said.


Incoming and outgoing flights were disrupted between 1750 hours and 1820 hours as the Autotrac-III system crashed, resulting in the air traffic control (ATC) screens going blank, airport sources said.

However, the ATC officials quickly switched over to the earlier system -- Autotrac-II -- to restore air traffic, the sources said. This is the third time this year that the air traffic management system at the airport has collapsed. The system had crashed twice in January when US company Raytheon's Autotrac-III system was being tested for installation.






The sources said no incoming flight was diverted to any other airport but they were made to hover over the Delhi airspace till the Autotrac-II system was made operational. An Airports Authority of India spokesperson said the two Autotrac systems were working simultaneously. "There were some problems in Autotrac-III for a few minutes. There was no disruption to any flight in any way".

The ATC system crash occured on a day when the airport's plush new Terminal-3 was made operational with some flights operating out of there.

A software glitch was suspected to be the prime cause for the crash, the sources said, adding that the Autotrac-III system had stopped transmitting inputs to the radar consoles, which show the traffic in the airspace controlled by ATC tower and give vital information like aircraft speed, height and call-signs.

In the past two such instances on January 14 and 26 this year, the ATC had to switch over to the 'manual procedure' to maintain vertical and horizontal separation between aircraft and to enable them to land or take-off.




At that time, the incident had happened during peak hour traffic and the system had taken almost one hour to be rectified, leading to severe congestion over Delhi airspace. Aviation sources said that systems like Autotrac-II or III were not the only ones maintaining separation between two aircraft.

Most commercial airliners now fly with their own on board traffic collision avoidance systems (TCAS), which provide warnings about presence of another plane in the vicinity, they said, adding that it had been made mandatory to install TCAS on all aircraft operating in India.

 

[TheInvincibleIndian]

Major radar crash at Delhi international airport


New Delhi: The sophisticated air traffic management system at the IGI Airport, which was operationalised in March, crashed this evening disrupting flight movements for almost 30 minutes.



Terminal 3 begins commercial operations

State-run Air India's flight AI-102 from New York Wednesday evening became the first official scheduled flight to arrive at India's swankiest and largest terminal at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in the capital.

The flight, which arrived here at 4.45 p.m. with 200 passengers on board, marked the start of commercial flight operations at what is officially known as Terminal 3 (T3).




The passengers, who arrived from the New York's John. F. Kennedy International airport, were pleasantly surprised to find such a state-of-the-art infrastructure in India as T3.

"Jet Airways will have the distinction of being the first private carrier to bring its passengers through T3, when its flight from Kathmandu lands at 5.15 p.m.," an airport official said.


Incoming and outgoing flights were disrupted between 1750 hours and 1820 hours as the Autotrac-III system crashed, resulting in the air traffic control (ATC) screens going blank, airport sources said.

However, the ATC officials quickly switched over to the earlier system -- Autotrac-II -- to restore air traffic, the sources said. This is the third time this year that the air traffic management system at the airport has collapsed. The system had crashed twice in January when US company Raytheon's Autotrac-III system was being tested for installation.






The sources said no incoming flight was diverted to any other airport but they were made to hover over the Delhi airspace till the Autotrac-II system was made operational. An Airports Authority of India spokesperson said the two Autotrac systems were working simultaneously. "There were some problems in Autotrac-III for a few minutes. There was no disruption to any flight in any way".

The ATC system crash occured on a day when the airport's plush new Terminal-3 was made operational with some flights operating out of there.

A software glitch was suspected to be the prime cause for the crash, the sources said, adding that the Autotrac-III system had stopped transmitting inputs to the radar consoles, which show the traffic in the airspace controlled by ATC tower and give vital information like aircraft speed, height and call-signs.

In the past two such instances on January 14 and 26 this year, the ATC had to switch over to the 'manual procedure' to maintain vertical and horizontal separation between aircraft and to enable them to land or take-off.




At that time, the incident had happened during peak hour traffic and the system had taken almost one hour to be rectified, leading to severe congestion over Delhi airspace. Aviation sources said that systems like Autotrac-II or III were not the only ones maintaining separation between two aircraft.

Most commercial airliners now fly with their own on board traffic collision avoidance systems (TCAS), which provide warnings about presence of another plane in the vicinity, they said, adding that it had been made mandatory to install TCAS on all aircraft operating in India.

Can anyone guess the reason for the crash!!!!

 

[jha]

If this is a cyber attack ( which i doubt ) , then expect counter attack..

 

[Tshering22]

If this is a cyber attack ( which i doubt ) , then expect counter attack..

Our government won't. They're just cowards when it comes to facing the Dragon and make our intel agencies look like sissies.

 

[TheInvincibleIndian]

There were some problems in Autotrac-III for a few minutes. There was no disruption to any flight in any way....
SOURCE: DNA INDIA

 

[Spring Onion]

Its the third time its crashed . isnt it ???

why would Chinese resort to any cyber attack of this kind ?

 

[jha]

Our government won't. They're just cowards when it comes to facing the Dragon and make our intel agencies look like sissies.

Ofcourse they wont (especially this spineless and over calculative congress govt. ) ..but cyber army will

 

[somebozo]

Our government won't. They're just cowards when it comes to facing the Dragon and make our intel agencies look like sissies.

Ahh, Indian are always absolve of any sin or mistake..it must be China or Pakistan fault. I say Indian education system has done well on developing these stereotypes.

 

[Justin Joseph]

Our government won't. They're just cowards when it comes to facing the Dragon and make our intel agencies look like sissies.

There is no one like Indira Gandhi otherwise no one can dare to mischief with us and get away unpunished.

 

[TheInvincibleIndian]

of crse we had,,,,,, also we hav learnt better to keep intruders away toooo
who ever it zzzz

 

[somebozo]

There is no one like Indira Gandhi otherwise no one can dare to mischief with us and get away unpunished.

Ohh that witch and cunning fox??
we must also open old files of Indian involement in terrorism.

n the 1980s, despite considerable opposition within the Parliament, the Indira Gandhi government provided money, weapons and military training to LTTE and other Tamil millitant groups in Sri Lanka.[24]

Mukti Bahini and LTTE are few to name.

The witch who liked to deal every conflict with force no wonder met a fate of 30+ gaping holes in her body!

 

[Donatello]

There is no one like Indira Gandhi otherwise no one can dare to mischief with us and get away unpunished.

What are you trying to say man?

Indira Gandhi was assassinated, wasn't she?

 

[somebozo]

What are you trying to say man?

Indira Gandhi was assassinated, wasn't she?

After Indira Gandhi's death, Rajiv Gandhi became Prime Minister. In May 1991, he too was assassinated, this time at the hands of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.


Classic back fire!

 

[KS]

Ohh that witch and cunning fox??
we must also open old files of Indian involement in terrorism.

Mukti Bahini and LTTE are few to name.

The witch who liked to deal every conflict with force no wonder met a fate of 30+ gaping holes in her body!

Mind ur language mister(i dont know if I can call u that).

Badmouthing her doesnt actually affect her..but rather shows ur level of upbringing.

p.s.: 1971 seems to have left an indelible mark on u guys.Forget and move on.