NATCA Criticizes Effectiveness Of ORD Ground Radar | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-07.07.25

Airborne-NextGen-07.08.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.09.25

Airborne-FlightTraining-07.10.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.11.25

Sat, Jan 26, 2008

NATCA Criticizes Effectiveness Of ORD Ground Radar

System Loses Effectiveness In Snowy Weather

A new ground-control radar system now in place at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport is drawing fire from the local president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, who says the technology meant to prevent runway incursions is notoriously inaccurate when snow is falling.

Joseph Bellino, NATCA's facility president at O'Hare, says the airport's new Airport Surface Detection Equipment (ASDE-X) often fails to detect snowplows, baggage carts and other vehicles.

"When we say 'cleared to land,' we're saying that runway is clear of all obstructions on the runway. If it's snowing, we say it, but we're keeping our fingers crossed," he told The Associated Press.

Not surprisingly, FAA officials say the situation isn't nearly as bad as NATCA makes it out to be. Agency spokesman Tony Molinaro says it usually takes a year to fine-tune a new system to account for differences in airport layout, and prevailing weather conditions. He added ASDE-X -- installed at ORD since July -- should be considered a "secondary tool," used to supplement controllers' eyes and communications with pilots.

"The controllers union leadership shouldn't be trying to scare the public," Molinaro said, adding the system is far better than the old ground radar once used at O'Hare, which often produced false or dual images in heavy rain.

The FAA acknowledges the system at O'Hare still has some bugs. During a heavy snowfall earlier this month, ASDE-X had trouble distinguishing snowplows, and other ground operations at O'Hare.

ASDE-X was first installed in Milwaukee in 2003. Today, the system is in use at 11 airports, with plans to increase that number to 35 by 2011. The system is also in used at Louisville International Airport... and Jeff Gilde, the local NATCA president, says ASDE-X has been problematic there, too.

On the eve of last year's Kentucky Derby, Gilde says, a heavy rain "made the system go completely blank, and it did not come back up."

"Basically, the tower visibility was zero. So we could not see out the window and we could not see anybody on radar," he added. "And we actually had an aircraft cross in front of another aircraft that was landing."

Gilde adds most of the system's initial bugs have since been corrected, though false warnings still result in go-arounds for airplanes on approach once every couple weeks. "For a safety system to be 100 percent effective, it should work 100 percent of the time, and this does not," Gilde said.

The FAA is looking into equipping ground vehicles with basic transponders, in order to provide clearer signals to ASDE-X receivers.

FMI: www.natca.org, www.faa.gov, www.ohare.com

Advertisement

More News

Classic Aero-TV: Up Close And Personal - The Aeroshell Aerobatic Team at Oshkosh

From 2014 (YouTube Version): One Of The Airshow World's Pre-Eminent Formation Teams Chats About The State Of The Industry At EAA AirVenture 2014, ANN News Editor Tom Patton gets th>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (07.13.25): Tactical Air Navigation (TACAN)

Tactical Air Navigation (TACAN) An ultra-high frequency electronic rho-theta air navigation aid which provides suitably equipped aircraft a continuous indication of bearing and dis>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (07.13.25)

Aero Linx: Doobert Hi, we're Chris & Rachael Roy, founders and owners of Doobert. Chris is a technology guy in his “day” job and used his experience to create Doobe>[...]

NTSB Prelim: Pitts S2

The Airplane Was Spinning In A Nose-Down Attitude Before It Impacted Terrain On June 20, 2025, at 0900 eastern daylight time, a Pitts Aerobatics S-2B, N79AV, was destroyed when it >[...]

Airborne 07.09.25: B-17 Sentimental Journey, Airport Scandal, NORAD Intercepts

Also: United Elite Sues, Newark ATC Transitions, Discovery Moves?, Textron @ KOSH The Commemorative Air Force Airbase Arizona is taking its “Flying Legends of Victory Tour&rd>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC