Do Airplanes Have to Fly Blind?

Aviation professionals say that a power outage at a flight control center is “absolutely the worst scenario” one can think of. Our continuing feature on industries most affected by power outages.

In one of the worst flight control center blackouts in recent years, a major power failure at a key control center in California, USA, disrupted hundreds of commercial flights and delayed the test of a launch missile.

In July 21, 2006, the Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center lost electrical power for two hours after a pick-up truck rammed into a power pole. The center automatically began running small-scale back-up generators, until those lost power as well. From then on, the building went dark.

In an interview with the Aviation Law News website, Bruce Bates, one of the center’s controllers, described the horrendous event as one of the absolutely worst scenarios a controller like him could ever think of. “For the duration of the blackout, the airplanes were up there, flying blind.”

To work around the pressing situation, Bates and his fellow controllers were compelled to use their cellular phones, which are normally required to be turned off in the control room. “We used our phones,” said Bates, "to contact other control towers to ask them to issue warnings to the aircraft.”

The Los Angeles center was responsible for directing high-altitude aircraft in Southern California, Nevada, Utah and parts of Arizona. Owing to the outage, approximately 350 flights were either grounded, delayed or diverted, and more than 25,000 passengers were inconvenienced.

Also affected was the test launch of one Minuteman III missile, which was postponed for a day because air traffic control could not give a go with a clear airspace.

In situations such as this, large-scale temporary power plants could have provided the necessary electrical power that would last till the crisis was resolved. As in the foregoing scenario of a blackout owing to a human error or emergency causes, rental power stations will also prove beneficial in cases of power utility plant shutdowns, aviation power plant maintenance, airport power plant expansion, delayed construction of permanent power sources, load shedding or peak shaving.

Interim power stations are modular, flexible and cost-effective. They can be deployed from and to any point on Earth, owing to their compact and modular design, which gives no challenge in delivering them. Thanks to the cutting-edge technologies infused in most modern large-scale generators, they are flexible and are able to supply to the exact power requirement of the client. They are also cost-efficient, representing prices that are significantly lower than the projected losses and damages should aviation facilities stay without electricity.

With air transportation being a prime mover of goods and people in today’s world, air traffic control centers cannot afford to lose power for even a moment. The aviation industry can never be grounded, no matter what. Thanks to large-scale temporary power plant technologies, the continuation of aviation operations can be guaranteed.

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PRESS INQUIRIES
Robert Bagatsing
Altaaqa Global
Tel: +971 56 1749505
rbagatsing@altaaqaglobal.com

Ensure the Cure

It is important to keep pharmaceutical products at the right temperature all the time. The continuation of our ongoing series on industries most affected by power interruptions…

Keeping medicines and other pharmaceutical products at the optimal temperature is important in ensuring that they remain effective and capable of saving a patient’s life and health. Insulin, for instance, might lose its effectiveness the moment it is exposed to temperatures below 0°C. Other pharmaceutical products, like cortisone creams, can be rendered useless by exposure to temperature above 35°C.

As a testament to the salience of the concern, industry authorities like the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) have defined two main temperature ranges for the climate-controlled transportation and storage of pharmaceutical products: Two to eight degrees Celsius for cold chain products and 15°C-25°C for temperature-controlled products.

While it is ideal that temperatures as prescribed are maintained during manufacture, storage and transportation of pharmaceutical products, there may be cases that can cause extreme aberrations. One of them is when power supply is interrupted, either from planned or from unexpected circumstances. Electricity outages can be caused by several reasons, including plant shutdowns, overloaded facilities, peaks in seasonal demands, natural calamities and operational errors, among others. Whatever the cause of interruption is, it is important for pharmaceutical companies and other allied entities to be prepared and proactive in case of power-related problems.

One of the most efficient ways to prepare for and counter the effects of a blackout is to engage the services of temporary power providers. Rental generators represent a cost-effective and rapid solution in times when power is cut off. With interim power plants, the temperature across the pharmaceutical cold chain can be maintained, and temperature abuse can be avoided. Because temporary power stations are relatively affordable compared to constructing dedicated permanent electrical energy plants on site, pharmaceutical companies and their allied entities can procure the systems without needing to dent their budget allocations for a particular period of time. Since rental power plants are operationally efficient when used temporarily, the cost that will be involved running them will largely be lesser than the lost profit, opportunities, production time and raw materials should pharmaceutical firms stay without power. Because mobile generators are flexible and scalable, their output can be fitted to the exact requirement of the customers, precluding the chances of over- or under-sizing.

Nowadays, medicines have become part of the world population’s basic necessities. With the delicate illnesses that are now existent, like HIV, Ebola and MERS, to name a few, pharmaceutical products are highly essential to keep people healthy and to prevent the spread of deadly ailments. Temporary power plants can help supply the necessary electricity in times when dependable, sustainable and viable power is crucially needed, as in maintaining the prime temperature for medicines and pharmaceutical products.

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PRESS INQUIRIES
Robert Bagatsing
Altaaqa Global
Tel: +971 56 1749505
rbagatsing@altaaqaglobal.com