00:02What's quite significant, because unlike 9-11, there is not a deliberate act, so far as we know, that caused
00:07this.
00:08And from what the Secretary of Transportation has stated is their theory of what happened,
00:13it points to a system malfunction, that is, the failure of one component,
00:18even if there's one contractor digging up one wire or one fiber optic cable,
00:23should not have a cascading failure that affects 22 different air route traffic control centers
00:28throughout the United States.
00:30Well, it doesn't show fragility as much as it shows complexity.
00:34The air traffic control system has been in continuous operation for decades,
00:37and it has, as the Secretary of Transportation pointed out, old technology and new.
00:43And the trouble is, when you have a complex system of systems,
00:47one of the key issues is how do the systems communicate or act with one another?
00:52How do the systems behave if one part of it fails?
00:56Do you have simultaneous failures across several systems?
01:00Cascading failures, starting from one small problem, or a combination?
01:04And I don't believe the investigation is mature enough to answer those questions.
01:08Well, certainly there are lessons for other countries,
01:10because although the U.S. has the most sophisticated and extensive air traffic control system,
01:14it is not the only one.
01:16There are several around the world, and there are some areas, such as Western Europe,
01:20that might have a general control system for several countries.
01:23Of course, Australia has their own, but the lessons learned here,
01:27and there will be lessons learned from this American example, can be applied elsewhere.
01:32And primarily, it's not a question of the technology,
01:35but a question of how do the various technologies mesh with one another?
01:39Well, the most immediate response or after effect is the fact that
01:44when crews were basically sitting idle on the ground for several hours,
01:47many of them went past their duty times, and that becomes a more,
01:52well, it makes it more complex to get everything back in order,
01:55because the crew has to have a certain amount of crew rest before they can start up again.
01:59So it's not surprising there are still problems today,
02:02nor is it surprising there are presumed to be problems tomorrow.
02:05It may take until Monday before this is resolved.
02:09It may take until Monday before this is resolved.
