Fri, Feb 12, 2010
FAA, FCC Have Crews On Site Diagnosing The Problem
For more than a week, the ILS at
Lubbock International Airport has been giving pilots "distorted
data", and the FAA and airport officials are scrambling to discover
why.
FAA Deputy Administrator Michael O'Hara said signals were
spilling over into the ILS frequency, causing interference in the
form of noise on the signals sent to aircraft. "When that
noise is on the signal it causes the signal the pilots receive to
deviate slightly to the right or left indicating a different
approach to the runway," O'Hara told television station KDBD.
Officials thought they had the problem solved Tuesday, when
several check flights showed no interference with ILS equipment in
test aircraft. But planes arriving at KLBB Tuesday night again
showed the distorted data, causing aircraft to mis-align with the
runway.
The ongoing problem has caused the FAA to ask for help from the
FCC. "We're bringing in additional spectrum engineers not only from
our head quarters from the west coast, but we're also ringing in a
crew dispatched from the Dallas office of the FCC to take advantage
of the equipment they have that can help us," O'Hara told the
station.
The FAA says changes in terrain or construction near the airport
could possibly be causing the interference, or an outside source
broadcasting on the same or adjacent frequencies might be the
culprit. The agency has teams working 24/7 on the problem, and says
it will stay in Lubbock until it is resolved.
FMI: www.faa.gov, www.flylia.com
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