Software defect caused UK flight chaos, NATS report finds as CAA review ordered

A software defect that corrupted flight data in a millisecond caused last week's UK air traffic outage, National Air Traffic Services reported, as ministers ordered an independent review.

• NATS traced the September 8 failure to a software defect in the National Airspace System that corrupted flight data in a millisecond, prompting a six-hour outage.
• The disruption cancelled more than 2,000 flights and affected hundreds of thousands of passengers at airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton and Glasgow.
• Transport secretary Heidi Alexander tasked the Civil Aviation Authority with an independent review of NATS' findings and investment plans, with results due within six months.
• NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe apologised and said the issue was identified with mitigation in place, dismissing links to previous failures and speculation of military intervention.