NATS experienced a technical issue on Tuesday. That's what they called it. A technical issue. Hundreds of flights sat on tarmacs across Britain because the air traffic control system had what we're now politely referring to as a whoopsie.
The flights were departing flights. They were ready to leave. Passengers boarded. Bags got loaded. Then nothing happened because the computers that tell planes where to go decided to take a personal day.
NATS is the UK's air traffic control provider. Their entire job is making sure planes don't fly into each other. One job. They had one f*cking job and the system went down like a drunk uncle at Thanksgiving.
Hundreds of flights disrupted means thousands of people trapped in airports doing what humans do best in a crisis: refreshing their phones and pretending the departure board will change if they stare at it hard enough. Someone in Heathrow is still standing there right now, convinced their willpower will fix the server.
The technical issue happened at major British airports. Gatwick. Heathrow. Manchester. The works. Every pilot in the country sitting in a cockpit staring at a blank screen thinking about how their entire profession got reduced to waiting for IT support to pick up the phone.
This is air traffic control. The system that's supposed to be so bulletproof and redundant that nuclear war couldn't stop it. But a Tuesday in September? That'll do it.
The best part is calling it a technical issue, like the plane system caught a cold. The plane system didn't have a technical issue. The plane system ate sh*t and died while thousands of people who paid for flights got to experience the thrill of sitting still and achieving nothing, which I guess makes them honorary day traders.
Photo by Johannes Heel on Unsplash
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