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FNO LAX, 2/3/17 - ATC Drop


Steven Perry
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Steven Perry
Posted
Posted

I can't wait to hear ATC's side of the story.

 

For me, tonight was a first. I've been at this for quite a while and I've never seen a whole group of event-hosting ATCs log off en m[Mod - Happy Thoughts]e because a few positions got dumped in a server split/hiccup. 45 minutes later, the planes are still landing at LAX. ATC is still AWOL.

 

I hope we can get a hotwash out of it and distribute some lessons learned for the rest of VATUSA and VATSIM.

 

The pilots though... BRAVO! Unicom was alive and well. We had fun. Only one or two odd balls going against the flow of traffic. A few formation landings. But in general, nice and orderly.

 

[Edit: typo]

Steven Perry

VATSIM Supervisor

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Ernesto Alvarez 818262
Posted
Posted

server splits are very very very rare these days. they worked those issues out a long time ago. kinda surprising to see one being mentioned

 

we've always toughed them out in the past. i kinda miss those (knock on wood) lol

 

i remember pretty much every large event, losing half the traffic, or sporadic traffic seeing one controller and not the other. one CTP while on tower i pretty much lost one side of the airport, while the other was still there, even though they all kept seeing me and trying to call me in vain until the server issue resolved.

 

always made things interesting

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Shane VanHoven
Posted
Posted

When airplanes get kicked while doing 4 miles per minute, then they come back 12 minutes late 50 (FIFTY!!!!) miles from where they disconnected, yeah it creates wayyyyy too much headache for what it's worth.

 

I wasn't working the event, but just keep in mind what these controllers have to go through during these events you guys. It's HARD. Especially when you have to mix in the "less-than-competant" ones we have to deal with on a constant basis. It shortens tempers and makes things frustrating on our end. Then just as you think you have caught up to the traffic, half of the planes disappear? Yeah, no thanks.

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Tim Roden
Posted
Posted (edited)

At approximately 0345z, 15 minutes before our FNO was scheduled to end, the VATSIM USA-C2 server unexpectedly split from the rest of the network. When this happened, 3 of our most important controllers were kicked off the network and unable to reconnect.

 

Due to unforeseen circumstances we were already short by a few controllers, making it impossible for the remaining controllers to cover the positions which were now unstaffed. Upon discussion at ZLA, we decided that we would not be able to provide an acceptable level of service to the remaining aircraft and the decision was made to suspend all controlling operations at LAX.

 

If you would like to leave feedback, please feel free to submit it via this page on our website: https://laartcc.org/feedback

Edited by Tim Roden
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Randy Tyndall 1087023
Posted
Posted

A very good example of two responses. One that goes far in explaining what happened and the result and another that contributes absolutely nothing to the thread and is only meant to foster discontent between controllers and pilots.

 

Thank you, Tim, for what I consider an excellent answer to the OP's post. Well written and, at least to me, very explanatory. Given the explanation, I completely understand now and agree with the dropping out of ATC during the FNO. My biggest fear when I read the OP's post was that Shane's scenario was the reason. Glad to read that it wasn't.

 

This comes from just a pilot. Never controlled, nor do I wish to. What you provide me as a pilot is a most valuable contribution to this network.

 

Now, if only the perfect pilot who never makes mistakes or has computer issues could link up with the perfect controller who never makes mistakes or has computer issues. That, my friends, would be Utopia. Oh wait, in the book by Thomas More, Utopia wasn't as great as it seemed, was it?

 

Randy

Randy Tyndall - KBOI

ZLA I-11/vACC Portugal P4

“A ship is always safe in the harbor. But that’s not why they build ships” --Michael Bevington ID 814931, Former VATSIM Board of Governors Vice President of Pilot Training

1087023

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Mathew Sutcliffe
Posted
Posted
Oh wait, in the book by Thomas More, Utopia wasn't as great as it seemed, was it?

Sure it was.

swift - Developer
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Luke Kolin
Posted
Posted
At approximately 0345z, 15 minutes before our FNO was scheduled to end, the VATSIM USA-C2 server unexpectedly split from the rest of the network. When this happened, 3 of our most important controllers were kicked off the network and unable to reconnect.

 

Out of curiosity, why could they not connect to another server?

 

Luke

... I spawn hundreds of children a day. They are daemons because they are easier to kill. The first four remain stubbornly alive despite my (and their) best efforts.

... Normal in my household makes you a member of a visible minority.

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1275389
Posted
Posted
Out of curiosity, why could they not connect to another server?

Give it about 30 seconds for everyone to figure out what happened. Try reconnecting. "Callsigns in use" when you try to reconnect. Reconnect with a different callsign. By the time everything is all set again, the planes have most likely started taking liberties into their own hands and started sequencing themselves - at which point it's pretty hard to jump back in and start controlling again (especially if people go to UNICOM).

^^ Just an [Mod - Happy Thoughts]umption as to what happened.

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  • Board of Governors
Don Desfosse
Posted
Posted

Josh is correct, that's precisely what happened. The server suddenly ceased to operate at 0348Z, 12 minutes prior to the end of the event. The guys were trying to log back in for several minutes. At 0354Z, when the event was 6 minutes from its ending time, the facility leadership made the call, as Tim described above.

Don Desfosse
Vice President, Operations

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Luke Kolin
Posted
Posted

Interesting - so the remaining servers still though the controllers were logged in?

 

Cheers!

 

Luke

... I spawn hundreds of children a day. They are daemons because they are easier to kill. The first four remain stubbornly alive despite my (and their) best efforts.

... Normal in my household makes you a member of a visible minority.

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  • Board of Governors
Don Desfosse
Posted
Posted

Yep. It was weird (and obviously unfortunate). Haven't seen it like that in a few years (during CTP overloads). Stunk too, as it was one of the highest traffic FNOs we've seen in the last several years, and the largest single-facility (KLAX) FNO since I started tracking traffic counts in January 2014.

Don Desfosse
Vice President, Operations

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