FAA Commissions Cornerstone of Air Traffic Modernization Program

The FAA at Philadelphia International Airport commissioned the first Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) on Monday. Now fully operational, STARS replaces older-generation technology with an advanced air traffic system with greater capability to meet capacity needs for years to come.

STARS represents an important milestone in the FAA’s ongoing plans to modernize the nation’s air traffic control system. Benefits from the new system include synchronizing data from up to 16 different radars, capturing accurate local weather, and tracking as many as 1,350 aircraft at a time over a 60-mile radius. By integrating this data, STARS gives controllers a picture of the sky
that is as accurate and detailed as technologically possible.

"A significant part of our nation’s future airspace system has arrived today in Philadelphia," said FAA Administrator Marion C. Blakey. "STARS and other technology are critical tools to charting a new century of safer, more efficient flight."

The newly-commissioned system is in the Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) that controls aircraft within the 60 miles of airspace surrounding airports. Controllers use the system to separate and sequence aircraft, provide traffic alerts and weather advisories, and vector arriving and departing traffic. The airspace for which they are responsible covers an area of approximately 3,600 square miles in four states and up to an altitude of 10,000 feet. According to the FAA, the TRACON handled 692,077 operations in 2002.

Other new equipment supporting Philadelphia that make it one of the country’s most modernized facilities includes: a new Airport Surveillance Radar Model 11 (ASR-11) that supplies digital data to STARS; a runway safety alerting system called the Airport Movement Area Safety System (AMASS); Precision Runway Monitor (PRM) radar that allows pilots to perform precision approaches; an automated pre-departure flight clearance system called Tower Data Link Service (TDLS); and a new TRACON facility featuring innovative design features for air traffic control.

Under a joint FAA/DoD program, STARS will eventually replace computers and displays at more than 300 air traffic control facilities nationwide. In addition to Philadelphia, other FAA deployments
scheduled for this year include Portland, OR; Boston, MA; Miami, FL; Milwaukee, WI; Port Columbus, OH; San Antonio; and Seattle/Tacoma, WA.

The agency plans to deploy STARS at facilities deemed most critical over the next several years as funding permits. Sites with the greatest need – the highest growth in air traffic combined with older, less-reliable equipment – will receive STARS the soonest.
 
The STARS FS-2+ system achieved initial operational capability at Philadelphia on Nov. 17, 2002, and since that time, the system has been thoroughly evaluated by the FAA, National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) and the Professional Airways Systems Specialists (PASS) resulting in Monday's STARS commissioning.

"This commissioning at Philadelphia confirms that STARS is the future of terminal air traffic control for the FAA," said Bob Eckel, vice president of Raytheon Air Traffic Management Systems. "We congratulate the FAA on this achievement, and we look forward to continuing our successful partnership with the FAA, NATCA and PASS as we proceed down the site deployment waterfall."

NATCA Says, "Yes, But"

Tireless dedication and outstanding effort by Philadelphia air traffic controllers has resulted in seven months of safe, smooth operation of the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) since the equipment was officially turned on.
 
"Controllers have always been at the forefront of the drive for new technology," said National Air Traffic Controllers Association President John Carr. "In Philadelphia, they pushed very hard to be the first to receive STARS and worked hard to make it a success. The only reason STARS is finally succeeding after a long and difficult history is because controllers have moved the technology forward every step of the way in the program's development, testing and implementation process. In Philadelphia, controllers' contributions were critical to ensuring this equipment was usable, fit the operational needs of the facility and was a safe, effective and reliable tool in managing the region's busy airspace."

'Waterfall' is a 'trickle.'

Even as the FAA celebrates the STARS success in Philadelphia today, it has said that it plans to deploy only seven new systems this year around the country, not 18 as originally scheduled, the union added. As for the FAA's plan to have 188 installed over the next several years, that number has been slashed to 74. Carr questioned the FAA's commitment to modernization.
       
"Clearly, the STARS deployment waterfall has turned into a trickle," Carr remarked. "This is demoralizing to a lot of the controller workforce. STARS works and there is no reason why every terminal facility in the country shouldn't have it. Controllers are clamoring for it." Carr called the commissioning of the STARS project in Philadelphia "bittersweet," because "the FAA's previously well-charted course for modernizing the air traffic control system has hit choppy waters."

FMI: www.raytheon.com; www.faa.gov; www.natca.org