NATCA Protests Testing Of STARS Fix On Real Traffic
The Standard Terminal
Automation Replacement System is designed to revert to a backup
system when problems arise, such as incorrect identification of
planes, which is now plaguing STARS in the Detroit Terminal Radar
Approach Control room. But the National Air Traffic Controllers
Association (NATCA) says it's "bad policy, not bad technology,"
that the FAA is testing possible fixes not in a simulator but with
live traffic on the STARS system itself, which remains plugged in
while Detroit's backup system sits ready and free, but unused.
NATCA says the FAA's stance is inexplicable and unnecessarily
risky, one that's putting controllers and the flying public in
jeopardy. NATCA likened it to performing critical maintenance on a
car with the hood up while traveling at 60 miles per hour.
"This is an unacceptable way of doing business," NATCA Director
of Safety and Technology Doug Fralick said. "Why did the FAA spend
millions of taxpayer dollars to develop a system that has the
capability to fall back to ARTS in the event things don't go as
planned and then steadfastly refuse to use it? The FAA is
experimenting in Detroit with untested adaptations, putting the
system on Emergency Service Level to install the adaptations, then
waiting to see what happens with live traffic. It's unbelievable.
Detroit has a fully functional Electronic Target Generator lab,
which would allow the FAA to see if its proposed fixes will work.
Why not use it?"
NATCA says much of the
problems with STARS in Detroit involve the incorrect tracking of
aircraft. Aircraft departing off the end of the runway are often
not receiving correct data tags indicating their flight
information, such as speed, altitude and heading. Some departures
are not showing up at all on controllers' radar scopes, while other
departures are receiving data tags that belong to aircraft on
arrival to the airport. In addition, at times, the data tag flies
off in a direction not associated with the actual radar location of
the flight, and there have even been reports of STARS not tracking
some aircraft at all until several miles from the airport.
"The major issue is that the primary aircraft target (on the
radar scopes) is not tracking properly," stated Tom Kuhn, president
of the Detroit TRACON local NATCA chapter. "Sometimes, the target
is very tiny and hard to see. If it's not caught right away and the
tower sends another departure on the parallel runway side-by-side,
then you've got a potential problem if the planes turn. The result
could be a loss of separation."
Kuhn said efforts to fix the glitches are ongoing but leading to
other problems. This is highly risky because the system is still
being used to control live traffic. "The system needs to be turned
off while they correct the problems," he remarked. "Then they can
evaluate the fixes on their simulation equipment. To be testing
these fixes with live traffic raises safety concerns for me."
Fralick insisted NATCA's confidence level in STARS remains very
high. "We're not asking the FAA to scrap STARS, simply fix it. What
will it take to revert to the backup system? A near-miss? Or worse?
It appears the FAA is more interested in saving face on STARS than
doing what is safe and prudent."
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