Contradicts Airport's Explanation To Residents

FAA officials say that there have been no radar outages at Portland Jetport in Portland, ME that would have caused traffic to be re-routed over residential neighborhoods, as airport officials have claimed.

The Portland Press Herald reports that the airport is claiming that the FAA shut down the Cumberland radar site, the nearest ATC radar to Portland Jetport, for scheduled maintenance this summer, and that forced controllers to re-route aircraft into corridors that are not normally used. But FAA spokesman Jim Peters told the paper that such shutdowns have no bearing on flight procedures or flight patterns at the airport.

He said that flight patterns do not determine "the runway or the direction we bring aircraft in.”

Jetport Director Paul Bradbury initially told the paper that there were nine radar outages from March to September, and that aircraft were routed over residential neighborhoods east of the airport. Normally, they come in from the west, where there are fewer homes. But in a later interview, he said that the outages did not have an impact, according to FAA data.

There are four air traffic radar sites that provide continuous service for aircraft using Portland Jetport, Peters said.

FMI: Original Report