Heathrow out of action

[Bedfordblue]

An unfortunate and completely accidental fire at a nearby substation has shut down Heathrow Airport.
Disruption expected to last days.

Completely accidental / coincidental and absolutely not related to current geopolitical issues.

Heathrow Airport reopens for some flights after fire led to 'unprecedented' shutdown

The blaze triggered a "significant power outage" that resulted in more than 1,000 flights to and from the airport being cancelled.

news.sky.com

 

[The binman chronicles]

Electric Buggaflew

 

[Eggs]

…big continuity planning and risk management issue here. My first thought is why the world’s busiest airport can be wiped out by a fire at a single electricity sub-station. I have no idea about the National Grid but I’d have thought a different electrical feed could be switched on if the main source had an issue.

Chaos.

 

[Alanbileysfeathercut]

No shillings for the meter?

 

[NeilMorepies]

An unfortunate and completely accidental fire at a nearby substation has shut down Heathrow Airport.
Disruption expected to last days.

Completely accidental / coincidental and absolutely not related to current geopolitical issues.

Heathrow Airport reopens for some flights after fire led to 'unprecedented' shutdown

The blaze triggered a "significant power outage" that resulted in more than 1,000 flights to and from the airport being cancelled.

news.sky.com

 

[KaiserEFC]

1300 flights a day? Thank Christ for that ULEZ Zone!

 

[Mutzo Nutzo]

I’m sure they must have a disaster recovery / contingency plan that involves multiple diverse power supplies from multiple electricity sub/stations and backup diesel generators.

However running one of the worlds busiest airline hubs handling 200K passengers a day on emergency power is not a good idea.

I would’ve expected them to run a single terminal with limited flights and passengers. But no it’s a complete shutdown. I find this very strange and indicates a bigger as yet unknown problem.

Heads will roll I think.

 

[Rita_Poon]

 

[Groucho]

1300 flights a day? Thank Christ for that ULEZ Zone!

Said for years motorists are the easy target.

Heavy industry, unnecessary flights and unregulated shipping emissions are the issue.

 

[Yarrgh]

Didn't this happen at Manchester Airport last year? Just checked - June 2024.

So this is a common fault in all our airports on our underfunded energy infrastructure? Whose got electrical supply problems due to chronic underinvestment and record shareholder profits on their bingo card?

 

[NeilMorepies]

Heathrow be all

 

[Rita_Poon]

Didn't this happen at Manchester Airport last year? Just checked - June 2024.

So this is a common fault in all our airports on our underfunded energy infrastructure? Who's got electrical supply problems due to chronic underinvestment and record shareholder profits on their bingo card?

 

[perth_blue]

Heathrow be all

View attachment 299924

Hahah got in before me!!!

 

[DualityNSNO]

Said for years motorists are the easy target.

Heavy industry, unnecessary flights and unregulated shipping emissions are the issue.

Or maybe it's a combination of all?

Planes get a billion regulations on them, especially if they're older - they're basically double taxed to fly and land exactly due to carbon emission taxes and stuff like that. Heathrow suffers from being one of the biggest and most well-connected in the world, but it's still a heavily regulated airport.

Diesel engines in city centres are actual poison and it's great when they're not there.

Shipping, heavy vehicles, etc., are disgustingly bad for everyone near them too but we're stuck in the "this is cheap to run and produce" loop instead of trying to innovate for most of those industries.

 

[Rita_Poon]

Or maybe it's a combination of all?

Planes get a billion regulations on them, especially if they're older - they're basically double taxed to fly and land exactly due to carbon emission taxes and stuff like that. Heathrow suffers from being one of the biggest and most well-connected in the world, but it's still a heavily regulated airport.

Diesel engines in city centres are actual poison and it's great when they're not there.

Shipping, heavy vehicles, etc., are disgustingly bad for everyone near them too but we're stuck in the "this is cheap to run and produce" loop instead of trying to innovate for most of those industries.