Fri, Apr 09, 2004
Aero-News: Quote of the Day
ANN's
Quote of the Day usually derives from current news, though we
reserve the right to pick quotes out of history that have a bearing
on the day's events and issues.
Sometimes, you'll find them timely and in keeping with the
content of the day's news... and sometimes, they'll just be
thought-provoking.
Reader suggestions and comments are welcome... and if
particularly intriguing, timely, or poignant, may themselves
become future Quotes of the Day.
Let us hear from you, folks!
Aero-News Quote of the Day
"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?"
Source: NATCA Director of Safety and Technology
Doug Fralick, angry that the FAA is testing bug fixes on its
Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) in Detroit
(MI). 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.
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