Complain about a product or service

Air Controllers Warn Equipment Glitch Affects Safety

August 12, 2005
An association representing air traffic controllers is calling on the Federal Aviation Administration to invest the effort and money needed to fix what it terns a “dangerous and unacceptable glitch” in a key airport system that tracks aircraft movement on the ground.

Airline Safety • American Cancels More Fights For Safety Checks • Key Lawmaker Wants FAA 'Housecleaning' • FAA To Review All Airline Maintenance Procedures • Southwest Grounds 41 Airplanes, Suspends Three Workers • Problems Found With Wing Bolts On Four U.S. Planes • TSA Adds Security Checks for Airport Employees • FAA Says Many U.S. Airports Short On Safety • New Device Finds Illegal Cellphones on Airplanes • Laptop Fires Worry Airline Safety Regulators • New System Reduces Risk of Runway Collision • Study Warns Cell Phones Could Cause Airliner Crash • Inspector General Hits Outsourced Airline Maintenance • Air Controllers Cite Close Calls In Los Angeles • Air Controllers Warn Equipment Glitch Affects Safety • Report Questions Airline Safety • Cell Phones on Planes - Survey Warns of Air Rage • Air Travel Still Risky, Pilots Warn • Airlines Outsourcing More Maintenance • Pilots Blast Airport Security

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association says that during bad weather, the equipment goes into “limited mode," limiting its usefulness in helping to prevent possible collisions.

Flight controllers say the glitch was exposed in a high profile way recently with a near-collision of two aircraft at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport during poor weather in the middle of the night.

Controllers at Boston's Logan Airport say they have also seen the equipment, known as Airport Movement Area Safety System (AMASS), fail to work properly when there is moderate to heavy precipitation is in the area.

"This results in controllers not having this safety alerting system to help them when they need it the most -- during bad weather and periods of low visibility," said Doug Fralick, safety and technology director of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.

"I believe the FAA can overcome this problem if they simply get to work on it immediately. The agency has been selling the safety aspect of AMASS to the National Transportation Safety Board and the public, all the while knowing that the safety alert logic must be disabled in adverse conditions."

AMASS is a software enhancement to the Airport Surface Detection Equipment, Model 3 (ASDE-3), that provides controllers with aural and visual alerts to potential collisions on the runway. It processes data from the ASDE-3 and Automated Radar Terminal Systems (ARTS) to predict aircraft movement for arriving and departing aircraft and detects aircraft and vehicles that infringe on the runway surface. It does this by correlating speed, time and distance algorithms to assess potential collision situations.

"We believe AMASS is a valuable tool and it can help in the prevention of potential runway accidents," Fralick said. "We also believe there is a potential solution to the limited mode dilemma. The question is whether or not the agency is willing to make the commitment required to provide an all-weather runway safety alerting system. We believe the answer should be obvious."

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Back to the top |