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X-ray scanners down at Suvarnabhumi

Verfasst: Do Jun 21, 2007 8:22 am
von KoratCat
SUVARNABHUMI

Most of new airport's bag scanners go on the blink

AMORNRAT MAHITTHIROOK

Most of the luggage scanners at Suvarnabhumi airport broke down last night, virtually paralysing the conveyor belt system and forcing transport authorities to lug around baggage manually. Deputy Transport Minister Sansern Wongcha-um said he was alerted by an urgent report last night from Kulya Pakakrong, acting president of Airports of Thailand (AoT), that 17 computer tomography X-ray (CTX) machines had broken down at Suvarnabhumi airport about 8pm.

Suvarnabhumi airport is equipped with 26 CTX machines supplied by GE InVision Inc of the United States. Four of them failed to work earlier and still remain inoperable.

Some of the scanners had not been working since Tuesday and by about 8 pm a total of 17 CTX machines had broken down, leaving only five machines in working condition, said Mr Sansern.

The AoT had its staff manually handle passengers' luggage and 120 soldiers were expected to be deployed to the airport today to help move passengers baggage until airport authorities can mend the scanners and conveyors.

Thai officials also informed GE InVision Inc in the United States of the critical problems.

The company's technicians are reportedly on their way to Bangkok today to try and fix the glitches.

Mr Sansern said the troubles were caused by a computer virus that infected the server.

The broken-down scanners meant thousands of items of luggage needed to be X-rayed by a separate bomb detector system located in a special baggage inspection room.

However, despite all of the problems, there were no reports of any delays to outgoing flights by press time late last night.

An airport source said airport staff were doing all they could to ensure that bags were loaded onto the planes in time for their departure.

However, the source said that some bags that may require more thorough security screening might have to be left behind.

Last night's breakdown was just the latest in a long line of problems for the airport's expensive, scandal-plagued CTX scanner system.

Verfasst: Sa Jun 23, 2007 12:35 pm
von KoratCat
Airport bomb detection crippled

By Amornrat Mahithirook

Ten of the 26 computer tomography X-ray (CTX) machines used to detect bombs during baggage scanning at Suvarnabhumi airport remain inoperable and need replacement parts, Deputy Transport Minister Sansern Wongcha-um said yesterday.

Of the 10 machines, three need new radiation emitting equipment, which is special equipment to be exported from the US, while the seven others need new electronic parts.

"Right now, a total of 16 CTX bomb detectors are functional. The 10 others have problems which are not caused by a computer virus. Some parts of the machines expired," he said after summoning Airport of Thailand (AoT) board for a meeting.

He said the machines will be repaired as soon as the replacement parts arrive.

Mr Sansern's remark followed confusion over the breakdown of CTX scanners on Wednesday.

An initial report said 17 machines went down that night, paralysing the conveyor belt system and forcing transport authorities to handle baggage manually. Four of them failed to work earlier and remain out of action.

Suvarnabhumi airport is equipped with 26 CTX machines supplied by GE InVision Inc of the United States.

Serirat Prasutanont, director of Suvarnabhumi airport, said that five of the out-of-order machines will be fixed and resume operations by Tuesday.

The replacement parts have been shipped and are expected to arrive this weekend, he said.

Mr Serirat said GE InVision will be responsible for the damage which cannot yet be estimated, adding the machines are under a two-year warranty.

He said the AoT issued a Take-over Certificate (TOC) to the company early this month.

The TOC is used to claim the last instalment from ITO Joint Venture, which is responsible for the airport's construction.

Chaowalit Paka-ariya, AoT vice-president for the Baggage Handling System Department, yesterday clarified the problem with CTX scanners before the National Legislative Assembly's committee on transportation led by Bannawit Kengrian.

Mr Chaowalit told the panel that the breakdown was caused by a computer virus which prompted four servers to crash.

Two servers have been cleaned while the other two are in the process of being cleansed of a virus, he said.

He said GE InVision technicians would look at how the virus managed to infect the servers.

"The CTX system is a closed system. Installation of any irrelevant programme is not allowed. There is no Windows operating system or audio-visual entertainment programme attached to the system.

"We have to investigate if there is a security violation," he said.

Adm Bannawit said a subcommittee would be appointed to look into the server crash and make recommendations about spare parts.

He said AoT technicians should be equipped with technical know-how so that they can fix the problems.

He said the committee's report is expected to be completed and handed over to the AoT in two weeks.

Adm Bannawit also dismissed a report that staff watched a porn movie using a portable storage device while they were on duty.

Bangkok Post June 23, 2007

Verfasst: Sa Jun 23, 2007 1:00 pm
von KoratCat
Scanners hit by low voltage

Ten CTX luggage scanners at Suvarnabhumi Airport were severely damaged by insufficient voltage supply and not a computer virus as previously reported, a National Legislative Assembly (NLA) investigating committee said yesterday.

Admiral Bannawit Ken-grian, head of the NLA committee for transport and adviser to the Airports of Thailand (AOT) chairman, said six of the broken scanners had damaged X-ray radiators. Replacements would be imported with permission from the Nuclear Science and Technology Knowledge Centre.

"We don't know yet when these six machines will be fixed," he said, adding that the other four machines were slightly damaged but still required spare parts.

Bannawit dismissed previous reports that the breakdown was caused by officials inserting other programs into the computer running the scanners.

He said the computer was "specialised" and people could not just insert other programs into it. He said the problem arose because the machines received discontinuous voltage supply causing them to shut down. Restarting the scanners "did not help", he added.

As for the repair expenses, Bannawit said GE InVision Inc, the American company that supplied the machines, would be responsible because it was within the warranty period.

He also affirmed that the CTX malfunction would not affect airport security, as officials will check passengers' baggage personally.

The airport had baggage-handling problems due to the breakdown of the scanners on Wednesday night, prompting the AOT to bring in 100 military personnel to help carry passengers' baggage.

Currently, nine CTX machines are working in the east wing of the terminal and seven in the west wing.

Bannawit said his committee's inspection of the airport's taxiway and runway yesterday found that only 30 per cent of the damage had been fixed.

The committee will soon ask AoT board chairman, General Saprang Kalayanamitr to change the board members and executives because they had failed to do their jobs efficiently, according to Bannawit.

The Nation June 23, 2007

I'm stunned about the naivety of the people at AOT. Up here we all secure our computers with UPS and stabilizers. If a PC breaks because of insufficient power supply, the companies are not likely to fix it as warranty. So blowing the horn about the cause of the damage . . . :twisted:

Re: X-ray scanners down at Suvarnabhumi

Verfasst: Sa Jul 21, 2007 8:25 pm
von Isaan Rollie
Read in the Post today that they're fixed again. Was a virus they say. Now they closed all USB ports so no one can connect and upload something. :lol: Besides they developed antivirus software. All on warranty they say . . .