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A corrupt file led to the FAA ground stoppage – also found in backup system

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Re: A corrupt file led to the FAA ground stoppage – also found in backup system

#51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What kind of database are they using, I wonder, to end up with such a spectacular failure?

Why would this be an indictment of any specific database technology? If your disk fails and corrupts the filesystem, you're toast, regardless of what database you are using.

The technology to detect and recover from disk failures does exist. RAID and ZFS, for example.

I would not expect a disk failure to replicate to the backup.

Re: A corrupt file led to the FAA ground stoppage – also found in backup system

#52
post #41

AFAICT, this NOTAM system is a nationwide bulletin-board, using some cryptic standard abbreviations (to save space as if they were paying 1990s SMS), usually filtered by locale/coordinates/path, so pilots have the latest news hat might affect their flight plans. Has anyone seen exactly how many NOTAM messages are generated per day, and how long of a look-back is required? From 50k feet, it looks like something that c…

> using some cryptic standard abbreviations (to save space as if they were paying 1990s SMS)

When I did my initial pilot training in the late 1980’s, the codes for METAR, TAF, and NOTAM had already long been in place. It was explained to me at the time that the encoding was a practice that dated back to its origins in the teletype era. I suppose the limited baud rate of these devices meant that economizing on symbol density was a good idea. I’d still much rather read these succinct formats because it’s easier to chunk it at a glance.

Re: A corrupt file led to the FAA ground stoppage – also found in backup system

#53
post #18
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will always elect to be stuck on an Amtrak than stuck on a plane or in an airport. I'll take a book to the observation car and read next to the Mennonites doing their knitting and love every minute of it, no worries from me.

What is stopping you from doing that in an airport?

[dead]

Re: A corrupt file led to the FAA ground stoppage – also found in backup system

#54
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is stopping you from doing that in an airport?

Well, sometimes it's because you already boarded and started to taxi and there are so many planes on the ground that there are no gates open to get back to the terminal so you spend hours on the plane waiting for a slot to open so you can get off, meanwhile the galley runs out of food/drink and the toilets fill up. Then when you finally get into the terminal, it's chaos, no one knows when planes will be flying again…

Southwest?

Re: A corrupt file led to the FAA ground stoppage – also found in backup system

#55
post #9

On a positive note, you could have been on Amtrak: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/11/us/amtrak-delayed-va-fl.h...

I remember a time in the mid 2000s where a 20 hour delay was the norm for the northbound Coast Starlight. I used to catch the previous day's train from Salem to Seattle...

Re: A corrupt file led to the FAA ground stoppage – also found in backup system

#57
post #41

AFAICT, this NOTAM system is a nationwide bulletin-board, using some cryptic standard abbreviations (to save space as if they were paying 1990s SMS), usually filtered by locale/coordinates/path, so pilots have the latest news hat might affect their flight plans. Has anyone seen exactly how many NOTAM messages are generated per day, and how long of a look-back is required? From 50k feet, it looks like something that c…

This is highly informative. No seriously, it's probably the best thing I've read on NOTAMs.

https://deathtonotams.com/

from there you can get to

https://fixingnotams.org/

and pilots won't stop laughing and crying when they read

https://fixingnotams.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Field-Gu...

Re: A corrupt file led to the FAA ground stoppage – also found in backup system

#58
post #10

Quote from FAA: "Our preliminary work has traced the outage to a damaged database file." UK news source The Independent is reporting that Nav Canada's NOTAM system also suffered an issue.[1] Speculation: corrupting input, either international or North American? E.G. UTF-8, SQL escape, CSV quoting. edit: Better reporting of Canada's issue from Canada's CBC (and frankly, better reporting about the US, too). [2] "In Can…

[deleted]

Re: A corrupt file led to the FAA ground stoppage – also found in backup system

#59
post #41

AFAICT, this NOTAM system is a nationwide bulletin-board, using some cryptic standard abbreviations (to save space as if they were paying 1990s SMS), usually filtered by locale/coordinates/path, so pilots have the latest news hat might affect their flight plans. Has anyone seen exactly how many NOTAM messages are generated per day, and how long of a look-back is required? From 50k feet, it looks like something that c…

This is highly informative. No seriously, it's probably the best thing I've read on NOTAMs. https://deathtonotams.com/ from there you can get to https://fixingnotams.org/ and pilots won't stop laughing and crying when they read https://fixingnotams.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Field-Gu...

And the answer to the question, "How many?"

About 1.5 million per year.

Re: A corrupt file led to the FAA ground stoppage – also found in backup system

#60
post #10

Quote from FAA: "Our preliminary work has traced the outage to a damaged database file." UK news source The Independent is reporting that Nav Canada's NOTAM system also suffered an issue.[1] Speculation: corrupting input, either international or North American? E.G. UTF-8, SQL escape, CSV quoting. edit: Better reporting of Canada's issue from Canada's CBC (and frankly, better reporting about the US, too). [2] "In Can…

> traced the outage to a damaged database file Lil' Bobby Tables strikes again!

My first thought as well.
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