Saturday, May 3, 2014

U-2 spy plane shuts down LAX

Leading to delays and cancellations of hundreds of flights across the country.

NBC News.

How odd. And yet another reason among hundreds of reasons to avoid flying whenever possible. At this point if you still enjoy flying around then you are a straight up masochist, time and self-respect just not your bag.

The LAX computers overloaded attempting to track the plane passing through miles above regular air traffic. U-2 flies at 60,000 ft., regular air traffic 30,000. Backup computers also failed.

Fail, fail, fail, three fails in one.

The problem lasted an hour and affected thousands of passengers (that had already been abused). 27 cancellations of arriving flights, 23 departures, 212 delays, and 27 diversions. Also delays at Burbank, Ontario and Orange County and other airports (too minor to mention apparently) across the Southwestern U.S.

Edwards AFB is 30 miles north of L.A. Center. A spokesman for  Edwards AFB denies U-2 planes are assigned to Edwards, answering a question that nobody asked.

14 comments:

chickelit said...

Why does Bono need spy planes?

chickelit said...

[said with Rod Serling's clenched teeth diction]:

"Imagine if you will, Gary Powers' long overdue spy plane returning to home, the pilot long since dead, the mission long over."

edutcher said...

How many times has this happened before (the overflight, I mean)?

Not too often, I'll bet.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Poppycock... I'll tell you what happen.

It was a Russian spy plane. The administration is too embarrassed to admit it.

Wakeup America, the red scare is back with a vengeance.

Chip Ahoy said...

I watched my parent's house for six months while Dad was at Edwards, working for Martin Marrietta antes de conjunto a Lockheed.

Incidentally, the two companies joined because they were continuously battling each other bloody for government contracts. Merging by way of government instigation halted the unnecessary bleeding of both.

Back and forth I went between there and my own home. Faithfully twice a week. I'm such a good boy. Spent hours there each time. Clearing the place out of accumulated junk, first to go were garbage cans full of cleaning products. Rearranged things. Opened the curtains to light and life and consistently fed all the plants. Hired a yardkeeper, cleaned the whole house. Organized the garage. Reduced their mail clutter to zero, and, man, was that part ever a job. They came back to a different house. My dad beamed with joy and happiness and good cheer all around, and Mum was miffed, missed her extraneous crap in every corner. But then came around and saw the light of uncluttered living. Admitted so. She professed to wanting to keep it that way. I said, "three months max and the place will revert right back to Clutterville Central." And it did. For you cannot change these collecting and hoarding habits once started.

That is what I think about every time Edwards AFB is mentioned.

This insight is brought to you by lifetime experience.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Why does Bono need spy planes?

You reminded me of Kirk's question "what does God need with a starship"?

I was so getting into that movie and Kirk came with his little smartass question and ruin everything.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

LAX is so much cooler than JFK... has anybody noticed that?

i thought maybe it was because holywwod is there. But i think it's more than that. The L gives it a Le French sound. The A is the beguine the beginning of everything. It comes up Aces.

And then lastly X. X marks the spot. You go from the beginning A to the spot X where it is marked... it doesn't get any better for an Airport siglas.

JFK has an eternal flame... not bad... Historical... in an Olympian kind of way... LAX however. that's where it's at.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

The City of Angels

I have to go there someday.

bagoh20 said...

Come on down, Dude! It's totally rad. You're always welcome.

bagoh20 said...

If it's at flight level 60, who the hell cares if it's there, or where it's going? The highest passenger plane will be 5 miles below it. And near the airport, more like 10 miles below. It might as well be in orbit.

Paddy O said...

This was a test.

Wonk with air traffic control systems, big systems.

It worked.

bagoh20 said...

I guess it's gonna come out anyway, so I'll just admit it. The U2 was delivering my candy cigarettes. Amazon Prime is awesome!

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

The article says they're going to retire the U-2 in a few years so maybe we can all pool our money and start up some kind of super-duper-extreme skydiving business.

The Dude said...

I used to watch the NASA U2 take off from Moffett NAS years ago - fascinating airplane, takes off at a steep angle and keeps that same nose up attitude until it is too high to see.

Very distinctive sound, too. Just as when a C5A comes in for a landing - you will know it by the sound it makes. That and the fact that it blots out the sun.