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Reuters reports that last week's computer glitch at a California air traffic control center that led officials to halt takeoffs at Los Angeles International Airport was caused by a U-2 spy plane still in use by the US military, passing through air space monitored by the Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center that appears to have overloaded ERAM, a computer system at the center. According to NBC News, computers at the center began operations to prevent the U-2 from colliding with other aircraft, even though the U-2 was flying at an altitude of 60,000 feet and other airplanes passing through the region's air space were miles below. FAA technical specialists resolved the specific issue that triggered the problem on Wednesday, and the FAA has put in place mitigation measures as engineers complete development of software changes," said the agency in a statement. "The FAA will fully analyze the event to resolve any underlying issues that contributed to the incident and prevent a reoccurrence." The U.S. Air Force is still flying U-2s, but plans to retire them within the next few years. The U-2 was slated for retirement in 2006 in favor of the unmanned Global Hawk Block 30 system, before the Air Force pulled an about-face two years ago and declared the Global Hawk too expensive and insufficient for the needs of combatant commanders.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Monday May 05 2014, @07:51AM
Adalai Stevenson may have felt much the same way. Gary Powers, on the other hand, knew he had been busted. So aren't they at least supposed to tell us that they will be spying on us when such spying on us could cause us to know that they are spying on us? Or at least some no-fly or no-radar zones. Just to be polite.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by mcgrew on Monday May 05 2014, @02:03PM
The U2s' home is in the US; it was Beale back when I was stationed there in 1975. It may have been temporary; there were B-52 loaded with atomic weapons. I thought they were all armed, but I found out recently that only a few of the hundreds there were armed. My guess was Beale was a temporary staging area for bombers used in the Vietnam war; congress halted bombing a little over a year earlier. There were also nine SR-71s (VERY impressive machinery).
There was at least one U2 at Utapao, Thailand when I was stationed there. But the U2s aren't spying on us; they're simply not needed for that. There are far cheaper and easier ways to spy on Americans.
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