Airport Ground Movement Alerting System Activated
The National Air Traffic
Controllers Association (NATCA) is patting itself on the back
again. This time is for their work in Houston, where George Bush
Intercontinental Airport became the 34th and final airport to
commission the Airport Movement Area Safety System (AMASS.) The
technology provides air traffic controllers with visual and audible
alerts to assist in preventing runway collisions.
"This is a great thing for the aviation industry and the flying
public," said Jerry McDaniel, the AMASS technical representative
for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. "When people
ask what is in store for aviation in the next 100 years, they
seldom mention safety. But that is where NATCA comes in. It's our
job to make the safest skies in the world just a bit safer."
Commissioning of AMASS involves installation, a testing phase of
at least 30 days and, finally, controller utilization for at least
30 days to ensure a complete evaluation. NATCA officials devoted
thousands of hours to ensuring the system was safe and fully
operational. After the system encountered many problems in the
early development stage, NATCA got involved, identified hazards and
then worked to eliminate bugs such as false alerts.
"From the beginning, we knew this airport was going to be a
unique challenge for deploying AMASS," said Dave Strang, the AMASS
representative for NATCA at the Houston Intercontinental control
tower. "The team here all pulled together to develop a unique AMASS
system for the airport and we commissioned it quickly. This was a
remarkable achievement."
NATCA says AMASS has been credited with helping to prevent
possible collisions at several airports over the past couple of
years. Last summer, at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International
Airport, an airport vehicle mistakenly crossed a runway in front of
a landing jet. But the AMASS system alerted the controller, who
then immediately took action to avoid an incident.
"This equipment
couldn't have come at a better time for this airport," remarked
Luke Ball, NATCA local chapter president for the Houston
Intercontinental Tower. "In the last few years, we have extended
one runway and added another. This extra runway capacity expands
the area our controllers have to watch. The improved display and
additional information provided by AMASS allows us to maintain the
level of safety that has always been one of the highest in the
country. Also, the monitoring capability of AMASS provides a
'second set of eyes' to ensure that any mistake made is caught in
time."
In addition to Houston and Atlanta, AMASS is also in use at
Chicago O'Hare, Dallas-Fort Worth, Detroit, Los Angeles, Newark,
New York-John F. Kennedy, New York-LaGuardia and San Francisco.