Radar glitch was a red herring
Rumours that flights into and out of Cape Town International Airport had to be grounded or delayed yesterday morning because of a nationwide radar failure were completely untrue, Air Traffic and Navigation Services said yesterday.
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Also untrue, it said, was speculation that a fatal light aircraft crash was caused by a technical fault.
Spokesman Percy Morokane said that a "glitch" had been reported at Cape Town International yesterday morning, but it had nothing to do with radar.
"Allegations of a nationwide radar systems failure are speculative and cannot be entertained. Delays were as a result of a technical glitch in slot coordination," he said. Slot coordination refers to the sequence of departures and arrivals at an airport.
The "glitch" was quickly resolved and operations had resumed by mid-morning. The cause of the problem was being investigated.
"The light aircraft accident and the flight delays are in no way related." - Matthew Savides
Source: The Times