The fact that the FAA's computerised flight-plan system known as NADIN broke down last week is being silently applauded behind closed doors as proof positive that the elderly mainframe-based system is beyond ready for replacement by newer technology - such as the ADS-B based NEXTGEN ATC - starting 2010. NADIN (National Aerospace Data Interchange Network) is over ten years old and was made by a Dutch Company that's now gone out of business. The breakdown started early Friday with the failure of a computer system in Atlanta. The agency then rerouted the system's functions to another computer in Salt Lake City, which quickly became overloaded due to a high volume of data. It's an internal communications network that sends pilots' flight plans - including a flight's route and departure time - to air traffic controllers around the country. Once its database is corrupted, all flightplan data must be keyed in individually and manually and that's a time-consuming, laborious operation. On Friday last it got further complicated by weather disruption and the entire plane-moving system on the Eastern seaboard ground to a halt. By the end of 2008, the FAA had planned to replace NADIM with an interim system. The mystery is that four computer servers for that update project were delivered by Rockville Md company Stratus in March 2004 - after winning a $6.4 million FAA contract to supply technology and computer support. It sounds like fodder for yet another Dept of Transport Inspector General's Report on stalled FAA projects. Related Link