It's Not Gnats It's NATS (2)

 This Is What fbb Wrote

fbb began to write this blog as an item for a weekend Variety posting - but the whole topic proved more "challenging", hence a rethink. Here's the beginning of the  "Variety" piece.

≈=====================

NATS Not Natty OR ...

... Isn't Technology Wonderful?

What Happened

A processing system fault hit the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) headquarters on Tuesday.

The system issue forced airports to limit flights and suspend some arrivals.

NATS bosses ruled out a cyber attack as the cause of the failure.

Chief executive Martin Rolfe admitted that fixing the glitch took longer than hoped.

Overall Impact

Over 1,300 flights were cancelled on Tuesday.

Hundreds more flights were scrapped on Wednesday as the system struggles to recover.

Total cancellations have pushed past 1,900 flights.

Major hubs like Heathrow, Gatwick, and Manchester face heavy delays and cancellations.

Passengers are advised to check with their airlines before travelling to airports.

Official Response

NATS boss Martin Rolfe apologized to affected passengers and took full responsibility.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander summoned Rolfe for an urgent meeting.

Government officials called the disruption unacceptable and pushed for system improvements.

It is hard to know what to say! But when fbb's laptop has a funny turn, he can annex Mrs fbb's lap top, plug it in to all his stuff and continue with whatever project he has in progress.

Surely NATS should have a second huge laptop, preferably in somewhere like Inverness, that can be plugged in straightaway if the Southampton huge laptop throws a wobbly - which it seems to do every year or so.

Some folk want Martin ...

... to resign, presumably because he couldn't find his sonic screwdriver to instigate a miracle repair, which therefore "took longer than hoped." Sounds a bit like fbb's attempts to repair today's technology.

The person or persons who should fall on their technological sword are surely those who authorised a system with inadequate back-up.

But it was far more complicated than that!

≈=====================

And here is attempt No 2

The Full (?) Story From NATS Website

Statement at 13.46 on 8 September 2026

We are investigating a technical issue which is causing some disruption to flight departures. Our engineers are on site and we will provide an update as soon as we can. We apologise for the delay this will cause to journeys, passengers should check with their airline on the status of their flight. We will provide updates on www.nats.aero and on X – @NATS.

So just a minor technical problem, then?

Statement at 15.25 on 8 September 2026

We have identified that the issue was in our flight processing system. Our engineers are on site and working urgently to resume normal operations as quickly as possible. We recognise the ongoing disruption to travel, for which we sincerely apologise. Flights are still departing and airspace is open, but recovery will take some time. We will provide further updates as soon as possible.

Passengers should check the status of their flight with their airline. We will provide further updates as soon as we have confirmed information, at www.nats.aero and on X at @NATS.

Flights are still departing? Really? How many?

Statement at 16.40 on 8 September 2026

We have implemented a fix and our flight system is starting to recover. We are continuing to work closely with our airline and airport customers on recovery. We apologise sincerely for the disruption to people’s journeys today and they should continue to check with their airline.

So it is a national problem and will spill over to tomorrow.

Starting to recover? The passengers sleeping on the floor might not appreciate the pace of recovery!

Statement at 19.30 on 8 September 2026

Recovery from today’s system issue has taken longer than we had hoped. Our system issue is now resolved, we are operating normally and working as hard as possible to clear the backlog of flights. We are truly sorry for the ongoing flight disruption. We know this is hugely frustrating and apologise unreservedly. Passengers should continue to check with their airline.

And it has been harder to "ackle" that we implied earlier.

Statement at 22.10 on 8 September 2026

Work is continuing to assist airlines and airports recover from today’s disruption. This has been a very complex recovery and has created difficulties for the whole aviation network, from which it will take time to recover. We apologise again for the disruption caused.

Passengers should check with their airline on the status of their flight tonight or tomorrow.

So it is a national problem and will spill over to tomorrow.

Statement at 12:55 on 9 September 2026

Our operations are stable and we continue to work closely with airlines and airports to support their recovery from the ongoing disruption to their operations. We would also like to reiterate our apology to all those affected – passengers, airlines and airports – by our system issue yesterday.

While our immediate focus is on safely managing today’s flights, a full investigation will be conducted to establish what happened and identify any further action needed.

As we know, planes and crew are in the wrong place, planes need fuel and maintenance and crew need their statutory break - recovery is a tortuous process.

BUT ...

... is this the whole truth? Some journalists were not so sure!

The report below has been expurgated by fbb.

Flight data from a single military aircraft caused the air traffic control outage that left thousands of planes grounded and disrupted travel for hundreds of thousands, it has reportedly been claimed.

It is understood the Ministry of Defence does not believe there is any indication of an error on the part of the military.

Well the MOD would say that, wouldn't they. "If in doubt deny everything!"

Four people briefed on Tuesday's incident reportedly said the flight plan submitted by the aircraft triggered the series of events that led to chaos at airports across the UK..

After the outage happened, air traffic control took hours — and several attempts — to restart, the people reportedly said. 

Several attempts to restart? Good technology, innit? As they say, this technology is started by a crank!

This comes after NATS promised airline bosses that a rogue flight plan would not derail the system again after a similar disaster in 2023 which saw thousands of flights grounded.

And compensation?

The tens of thousands of passengers impacted by the glitch are unlikely to be entitled to compensation, a spokesperson for the UK Civil Aviation Authority regulator has said. They said the outage was likely to be seen as an "extraordinary circumstance" under passenger rights rules.

They said this means that "although passengers should be looked after by airlines, they are unlikely to be entitled to compensation for delays or cancellations that were directly caused by the incident".

Repeat Thought from fbb!

Surely NATS should have a second huge laptop, preferably in somewhere like Inverness, that can be plugged in straightaway if the Southampton huge laptop throws a wobbly - which it seems to do every year or so.

There have been FOUR failures, all disrupting flights, in THREE years! 

======================

Airport Graphics Identified

1. Heathrow 

2. City 

3. Gatwick

4. Stansted

5. Luton

6. Southend

======================

Lights Become Lanterns

The lanterns are more effective when the darkness is darker!

But the camera still makes the lanterns too bright.

They are too big, of course, but you can now see the illumination in the windows of the square tower and the cottages, the latter suffering from a landslip!. But fbb has had another idea.

Actually two ideas!

That's not bad; he's had two ideas in one week!

 Next Callerton Confusion blog : Weds 16 Sept 

It's Not Gnats It's NATS (1)

NATS is the National Air Traffic Service, a Limited Company with three directors, which looks after every passenger flight in England and Wales. There is another NATS control centre at Prestwick which covers Scotland and Northern Ireland.

But it us nowhere near as simple as that.

Let us first go to the contact address given for the three current NATS directors, one if whom is the boss, Martin Rolfe.

He can be contracted at ...

4000 Parkway, Whitley, Fareham; here in fact.

This is NOT where Air Traffic Control happens. On the same site, we find two other companies ...

... Aquila and Frequentis.

Here is what Aquika does,

Aquila Air Traffic Management (ATM) Services transforms military and air surveillance requirements into fully integrated air traffic management and air defence solutions. We know our customers do extraordinary things; they have extraordinary requirements. To support our customer activity in the UK and beyond, they need the latest technology to watch, communicate with, navigate, land and manoeuvre aircraft. We deliver, integrate and support end-to-end ATM services and associated surveillance, communication and navigation equipment for both military and civil partners. 

With expertise in the next generation of radar and radio technology, our 24-hour services enable our customers to operate air stations 24/7 . Our services ensure that aircraft can manoeuvre safely on land, sea and air. Using the latest commercial off the shelf (COTS) equipment, we deliver the whole package to our customers - from ATM system design and technology integration with existing systems, to training system users on the latest equipment and to supporting our customer 24/7. 

So, at a guess, Aquila has the sonic screwdrivers to keep all the clever stuff working.

Only last week it didn't.

Then we have Frequentis.

The Austrian company Frequentis, headquartered in Vienna, is a global supplier of communication and information systems for control centres with safety-critical tasks. Such 'control centre solutions' are developed and marketed by Frequentis in the business sectors Air Traffic Management (civil and military air traffic control, air defence) and Public Safety & Transport (police, fire brigade, ambulance services, coast guards, port authorities, railways).

Frequentis develops and optimises systems for customers in safety-critical areas of the global mega-markets for transport and safety infrastructure – wherever efficient and flexible high-performance solutions are required. Increasing mobility, digitalisation, and rising safety and security requirements are driving long-term growth. Modern technologies are used to optimise control centres for traffic and public safety.

So Frequentis gubbins is about telling people what is happening and where; some sort of extensive telephone system but using lots of "communication and information systems".

Both Aquila and Frequentis have offices and staff on the Whiteley site, so they can spring into action and sort things out very quickly.

Only last week they couldn't.

But it all really happens just off the M27, down the road a bit, at Swanwick.

There is the NATS control centre, lower left, and the office block is at Whiteley, on the right.

So what happens at Swanwick? In essence there is a very big shed ...

... now with solar panels on the roof ...

... and loads more offices and technical stuff. 

In the shed are lots of people beavering away at huge numbers of computer terminals. The picture below shows just a smidgen of the vast amount of technology and huge number if people to prod a frightening number of keyboards,

The statistics are, frankly, scary.

So if something goes wrong, it will go very wrong, as we saw last week.

But it isn't as simple as that!

In that big shed, there are THREE control centres all working together. In theory!

London Area Control Centre (LACC), which provides air traffic control services to aircraft operating in upper airspace over England and Wales within the London FIR.

fbb struggled with "FIR", but the interwebnet came up with a plausible answer. It is a Flight Information Region. So the London FIR encompasses England and wales.

London Terminal Control Centre (LTCC), which controls aircraft flying below 24,500ft flying to and from London's airports.

There are lots of "London" airports. Can you name them? We will identify them in due course.

No. 78 Squadron of the RAF, which provides military air traffic control services and distress and diversion services to civilian aircraft.

It was part of Bomber Command ...

... but is now based at Swanwick; but with no planes, air crew or airfield. It does have a new badge.

Its motto, Nemo Non Paratus, translates roughly as " Nobody is Unprepared". 

The squadron is based at the Swanwick control centre and, last week, was most definitely unprepared for what happened - or rather what didn't happen to 2000 scheduled flights.

78 Squadron, Swanwick forms one part of the Air Command and Control Force, within Global Enablement, No.2 Group. It is embedded within the London Area Control Centre run by NATS. The Squadron is made up of many critical Air Traffic, Airspace Management and Air Defence sections.

The area control team support military and civilian flights throughout the UK Flight Information Region (FIR), with Northolt Radar supporting the terminal Air Traffic Control (ATC) task of RAF Northolt.

Distress and Diversion Cell is an emergency centre ready to assist aircraft in distress around the whole of the UK FIR, while also providing vital other supporting functions.

The Military Airspace Management Cell manage the UK Low Flying System and the segregation of large areas of airspace for military training.

The boss of 78 Squadron is Wing Commander Alexa Smith ...

... who is very real, very alive and has no connection whatsoever with one of these.

So the centre at Swanwick does three jobs, one of them mainly military; it consists of three commercial companies and lots of clever technology. But, last week, it wasn't clever enough!

NATS has a natty web site which enables the user to see what NATS is doing in real time.

You can see activity all over the UK. 

But can you identify these SIX "London" Airports?

1

2

3

4

5

6

Nos 1 (the biggest) and No 2 (lots of water) should be easy. No 6 appeirs the least active?

Answers tomorrow, when fbb asks "What Went Wrong?"

Making Light Less Bright

The trouble with LEDs is that they are very bright and, usually, they are too dim to dim! You can paint them with dilute enamel but it can cast blotchy shadows.

It turns out the modern drinking straws are not straw (they never were) and nowadays they are not paper. fbb's purchase was a white plastic tube with a thin brown covering, possibly paper.

So what happens if you poke a small LED down a bit of drinking 'straw'?

It is a bit rough round the cut edger, but from the usual viewing distance ...

... always the cry of the Bodge and Fudge brigade!

 Next NATS blog : Tuesday 15th Sept 

Sunday Variety

Berlin Double Decker Underground

Yes it is utterly fake! One comment writer explains why.

Immerhin oben keine Türen für die Hochbahnsteige :-) , aber Scheinwerfer für den Luftraum.

So now we know!

Although this one is ludicrously obvious, the internet is full of fake photos and manipulated infirmation. Not all are easy to spot as fakes.

How about this, purporting to be operating in China?

We are not told how the cars, currently being overtaken (literally!) by the (?) train, manage to jump over the tracks. The train track does not exist behind the "unit". Perhaps it lays its own tracks, then picks up the rails after it has run over them?

Just plain silly!

Some News Snippets

Faster on Southern?

Sadly for commuters, but happily for those intermediate stations which will lose a train, it is only one peak journey in each direction, Monday to Friday.

Big Deal!

New Rubber Bands Fitted!

How long has it been?

Longer than you think!

Production of the trains began in December 2020, and the first train arrived at the Beckton depot in January 2023. In February 2023, the name of the trains was revealed to be B23 Stock. 

Live testing commenced in March 2023, with trains running during normal operating hours but without passengers. In June 2024, TfL announced that the introduction of the new trains was delayed, after experiencing "challenges" during testing. 

In February 2025, the majority of the new trains were being stored in Spain – as there was no available space to accommodate them at the Beckton depot, after expansion works were delayed when the Buckingham Group collapsed into administration in 2023.

In March 2025, testing of trains resumed, with TfL noting that 40 of the new trains had been completed. In August 2025, new trains began daytime testing, with a planned entry into service later in 2025.

But they ddn't!

There are a lot of fingers crossed at DLR HQ, at Transport for London HQ, at the Department of Transport, in Heidi Alexanders office and entourage of advisers; AND at ...

... Bessain in Basque Country.

That's a whole lot of mess, a huge amount of non-productive money and a vast number of dislocated fingers!

Why can't the UK buy trains that work? Why can't the UK companies make trains that work and are delivered on time!

Oh, they can, but the Spanish chappies offered to do a cheaper job.

QED!

Some Good News

Station Openings and Timeline

December 15, 2024: Initial launch of the line with services starting at Ashington and Seaton Delaval.

March 17, 2025: Newsham station opened.

October 19, 2025: Blyth Bebside station opened.

February 22, 2026: Northumberland Park station opened, providing a direct interchange with the Tyne and Wear Metro.

March 29, 2026: Bedlington station opened, completing the six-station route. 

fbb cannot quite match the news headline to the facts listed above, but however you look at it this reopening has been a huge success.

All stations are now open so the passenger numbers will continue to grow,

Here are the detailed statistics,

Passenger Growth Milestones

First 3 Months: Crossed 250,000 journeys.

8 Months (August 2025): Reached 500,000 journeys.

1 Year (December 2025): Surpassed 920,000 journeys.

January 2026: Officially topped 1 milliion.

Original Estimate: The initial business case from Northumberland Council projected about 600,000 passengers by the end of 2025.

Flix Flexes Its Muscles

Flix Train has ordered more trains with a view to expanding its open access services in Europe. More expansion is planned for Germany.

Eurostar is Frit

Tricky Dicky's reputation is well known!

Everyone says that competition is a good thing for "The Industry", except when it is competition against them!

Steps Sits Back In Amazement

The biggest shock news has broken recently from the Railway Industry, the biggest for months and months.

Thameslink is going to replace its hard and uncomfortable "ironing board" seats on all its Class 700 trains.

Only it isn't!

That would be horrendously expensive.

After a whole year's experimentation and consultation with passengers protesting about potentially painful posteriors, Thameslink is keeping the seats exactly the same ...

... but making the cover on the ironing boards just a little bit thicker.

Big deal!

Let There Be Light Part 2

Might these be the answer to the castle lights too bright sight?

Or will it just be the last straw for fbb's Bodge and Fudge approach?

More in due course.

 Next Gnats (?) blog: Monday 14th Sept