It was a story that would make even the most seasoned traveler a bit nervous. Dozens of flights were grounded at France’s Orly Airport over the November weekend after a reported problem with the air traffic control system. The reason the airport was having the technical problems in the first place were a bit disconcerting. Upon investigating, the airport admitted that air traffic controllers were still using Windows 3.1 as their primary operating system. This version of the Windows computer operating system was released in the early nineties and is pretty much obsolete. In fact, many businesses wouldn’t be caught dead using the outdated version, much less a airport.
Windows 3.1 was released in 1992. Not exactly considered state-of-the art, this version of Windows is remembered for very little, mostly the inclusion of the single-player computer game, Minesweeper.
After delays began to ground flight after flight and eventual close the Orly airport down, Alexandre Fiacre, the secretary general of the UNSA-IESSA, a French air traffic controller union explained that the problems stemmed from air-traffic software running on Windows 3.1.
“The issue with a system that old is that people don’t like to do maintenance work,” he said in an interview with media.
Fiacre went on to explain that it wasn’t just the software’s age, but more about the problems that came with it. For example, as a program ages, the knowledge about it become less and less prevalent. This means that it becomes harder to fix any problems that may arise, which is the main reason that new versions of operating systems get developed and released.
“Furthermore, we are starting to lose the expertise [to deal] with that type of operating system. In Paris, we have only three specialists that can deal with DECOR-related issues. One of them [specialist] is retiring next year, and we haven’t found anyone to replace him.”
DECOR is the system used to help communicate to pilots about the runway visual range. This technology is especially important in poor weather condition. In the case of the day of the computer glitch, the condition outside was extremely foggy and made it impossible for pilots to navigate the runway.
Even more surprising is the fact that many of air traffic controllers that run France’s Orly and other airports are running important programs on at least four outdated operating systems. Fiacre compares the fiasco to NASA using technology from the 1970s Voyager missions. As NASA’s last engineer from the Voyager missions retire, they will have to recruit a new expert on 1970s computer programming.
“The tools used by Aeroports de Paris controllers run on four different operating systems, that are all between 10 and 20 years old,” explains Fiacre. “Some of ADP’s machines run on UNIX [an operating system favored by universities and start-ups in the 80’s], but also Windows XP.”
While this story is garnering attention around the world, Fiacre tells Vice that in no way were any passengers in any danger.
“Air traffic controllers took a number of precautionary measures to eliminate all risk.”
It is also important to note that there are plenty of up-to-date and regulated technology to make air travel one of the most important methods of travel. In fact, there are international software safety regulations that make sure planes can run efficiently and safely. DO-178C was approved by the aeronautical industry in 2011. These embedded software systems take into consideration the years of technological advancements. These safety critical systems are created by SCADE, a formal modelling language and tool suite.
SCADE is considered one of the most important tools in the aerospace, rail transportation, automotive, nuclear and industrial domains. It is used by the leading companies in these industries. This suite was made with engineers in mind and is vital in air travel components, such as flight automation.
As the Orly airport controversy made its way to the media, the French Transportation Ministry quickly reacted with a statement. The Metro UK reported that the organization vowed to upgrade the systems by 2017. Despite the promise, Fiacre is quick to say he is does not believe an upgrade will come any time soon.
“2019 at the earliest, perhaps even in 2021.”
