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U2 causes Air Traffic mess

C

Cadillac Kid

Addicted Member
Just thought I would share an interesting story from my flight on Southwest from Sacramento to San Diego. The Yosemite Valley looked gorgeous as we were cruising along when, above Fresno, the pilot abruptly changed course and started making a series of left turns. Then he announced that were were heading back to Sacramento.

First they blamed high winds, then said it was computer glitch and we could not enter LA airspace.

The story now is that a U-2 spy plane caused the computer at FAA site in Palmdale to go bonkers.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ern-California-despite-flying-miles-them.html

After a two our delay, we were back on the plane to San Diego. It was a strange travel day.
 
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Heck, I thought you meant Bono and the lads were causing a ruckus in First Class. That's very different! Glad all is well, in any case. :D
 
petehall347 said:
i would check other news sources ..this is from the "daily fail" as we call it
Click to expand...

NBC broke the story. FAA quoted as “investigating a flight-plan processing issue”.

The various aviation/military/paranormal web-o-blogs are filled with other theories.

ACHTUNG BABY!
 
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I was looking for "we know it was the U-2 because..." but didn't see anything like that.

Murray
 
skippy_ps said:
I was looking for "we know it was the U-2 because..." but didn't see anything like that.

Murray
Click to expand...

Based on some news stories, it was confirmed by several 'unnamed sources', which makes it at least plausible.

But I'll tell you, this has kind of got my interest piqued. I am not a conspiracy buff, and my aluminum-foil hat is in good repair, but I wonder if this was a U2 flyover or something else.
 
Air traffic radar relies on self reported altitude information from the transponder in the aircraft.
ATC software had a nervous breakdown because of the altitude reported (like 50 to 60 thousand feet) was considered anomalous. It didn't know WHAT the hell altitude it was flying at, so it established and cleared a corridor around it for safety.

U2's fly out of Moffat Field (NASA) out of Silicon Valley and Dryden (Edwards/Palmdale) all the time.

When taking off and landing they are treated like a rocket launch due to the high rate of climb for the aircraft. It really isn't an unusual occurrence, so I suspect some software weenie blew a recent ATC software upgrade, with some old exception handling software lost or altered where it just couldn't believe the sucker was cruising at 60,000 feet.

Somebody's got their azz in a crack (or will) over this.

Now, the fun is, even if it was "supposed to be" a U2, or something else - IT sent out altitude data in it's civilian mode of it's IFF transponder.. that drove ATC computers nutz... like 60,000 feet hah, maybe 120,000 feet? lol. overflow the number in the software... OOOOPS!!!
 
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I don't subscribe to *any* explanation when there is no evidence of any kind. All there are is words. So I'll just put it in my 'hmmm' file and move on.
 
It's an explanation I am personally happy with, I consider it highly likely. I am open to new information, however in the absence of that, I am happy with MTF's explanation. :yes:

Me personally liking it gives it no additional credence because in depth information about the incident is scarce.

Just like I am personally happy with the sound of my system - and no one can tell me I am not. :smoke:
 
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I guess "I don't know" just isn't a valid position to have anymore, eh?

Used to be, if a person didn't have an opinion, or just didn't know, they could say that and it was OK. Now, everyone has to take a position and decide what they believe.

I'm going to stick with "I don't know" and as I said, move on. Lots of things I don't know; but I try not to stick my unknowns in the same box as my beliefs.

I don't know my stereo sounds 'good'. I know it sounds good to me. Bit of a difference. I know something disrupted air traffic over LAX. What, I have no clue. Various possibilities given in this thread have the benefit of sounding logical, but without evidence, I am still in the "I don't know" category.

The world is full of people who know what they only opine. I try not to add to that noise. I don't know much, (although I have plenty of opinions) and that has to be OK.
 
This response suggests that you think someone is trying to mislead you, or that you think all the plausible explanations and all the not so plausible ones, have equal merit - so much so that you can't chose between them. However, just for a moment I forgot that you don't want to chose without definitive proof...

While you chose to be in the "I don't know" category, and move on. I chose to be in the "I have chosen what I think" category, and move on.

Note that I am not preaching it to anyone, even you, I am just saying what I personally think. I indicated to Mark that I appreciate his analysis of what we have been told or can reasonably surmise. We may never know the truth, but if we do, I'll be able to say "I was wrong or right", and you'll be able to say, "so that was it".

Not quite sure what the point of this discussion is, it's interesting isn't it Wiggy :D
 
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Sorry, but I ain't buying the 60,000' squawk from the U-2 messed up the ATC computers. Those planes as well as other military airplanes with high altitude capabilities have been over-flying the U.S. for decades.

Murray
 
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