Heathrow resumes operations as global airlines scramble after shutdown

I am reading that the airport "bosses" are attempting to blame one errant "sparky" with a screwdriver and a pair of pliers.

It is so ruthlessly cynically deceitful, the fibble refusal to take responsibility.

First the Post Office,

Now the global Heathrow airport transport hubs

LHR has 3 substations. Apparently it can work off 2, but they have to tweak the supply. And they have to turn it off to do that.

It's not like the 1980s when we just grumbled a bit and got on with stuff. Everything in the UK now has health and safety procedures, so if something goes pop, everything usually shuts and the public are turfed out.

As an example, if the computer network in a school goes down, the school closes, because the computers control doors, access cards and CCTV and safeguarding rules demand that without them the school can't function. Even if the teachers can teach, the pupils are there and the lights are on.

The fire may have been caused by persistently high demands on the substation (an issue flagged in 2022). An update was planned, but no date was given. In the UK, water, sewage, gas and electricity services are privatised, which influences their budgets. The fire is likely to have been a component failure, which happens. Large transformers are oil cooled and the oil caught fire.

The hotel room prices may have gone up due to dynamic pricing. Lots of demand, so the software upped the price. It might be useful to legally permit a maximum % rise when that happens.

Heathrow might also want to purchase a nearby warehouse for emergency accommodation, for when this happens. Those cardboard beds from Narita etc. Airport travel is very different to most travel, so all airports should have some space available.

The UK has plenty of airport capacity to deal with such closures (including the currently mothballed Doncaster Sheffield Airport), but probably needs to co-ordinate it better.

Given how awful our train service now is, and the endless apps you need to drive and park anywhere, the persistent malware attacks and spiralling costs, this is just a bit more crap on the pile. But really annoying for anyone caught up in it.

In future, given that we are lot more third world now, they may need to ease up on the health and safety requirements, as stuff is going to be conking out a lot more in the future. Certainly anything reliant on digital systems is a lot less resilient.

I lived across the street from a big LADWP switchyard most of my life until I joined the Navy. It didn't happen often but I can recall a couple of big transformer explosions. They are pretty exciting O_O It wasn't an old facility either. I was in elementary school when it was built and the first explosion I recall was during junior high school. The TV fuzzed and by the time I got out of my chair to see what was up (this was before TV remotes, and the antenna were rabbit ears on top of the set ) KA-BOOM. Ran out front with my parents to see a big orange mushroom cloud heading skyward. Clear night, not particularly hot. Never heard why it happened.