Faulty radar serving Logan leaves thousands stranded

[Rhiannon12866]

Monitors show objects that don't exist; solution uncertain
By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff | October 11, 2005

A malfunctioning radar system serving Logan International Airport caused flight cancellations and delays of several hours yesterday, stranding thousands of passengers on a holiday weekend and adding to the woes of an airport that has logged several runway incidents in the past few months.

The Federal Aviation Administration said last evening that the radar could be fixed within hours or it could take several days, which could mean even bigger headaches for travelers and their airlines.

Radar screens at a regional aviation center in Merrimack, N.H., were showing controllers ''false targets," or objects that didn't exist, setting off the system's ''conflict alert" feature warning of potential collisions, FAA spokeswoman Arlene Murray said. The false readings began at about 10:30 a.m. Sunday, stopped after a while, and then resumed at 7:30 a.m. yesterday.

Murray emphasized that safety had not been compromised and said air traffic controllers had switched to a backup FAA radar system in Nashua, N.H. The system is slower than the one at Logan, though, and so it prompted controllers to increase the space between planes going in and out of Logan from 3 miles to 5.

''The air traffic operation continues to run smoothly, even though we are experiencing delays in the system," Murray said.


http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/10/11/faulty_radar_serving_logan_leaves_thousands_stranded/

[Tesla]

1. Why doesn't this sound right??

Are they going to say it was UFOs !!

[Rhiannon12866]

3. This whole thing sounded incredibly odd, which was the reason I posted it.

You perceived this exactly as I did. Next we're going to hear that there is another terror alert caused by really scary soda cans...:eyes:

[MaineDem]

2. Wonder if the heavy rains had anything to do with it

The NH area was hit pretty hard over the weekend.

[Rhiannon12866]

4. Actually, that is possible.

Parts of N.H. were absolutely drenched, a real problem for this part of the N.E. I just hope that was all it is, since John Kerry flies in and out of this hub...:-)

on edit: A fellow DUer met up with John Kerry at this very airport...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x4133603

[MADem]

5. This is really gonna screw life up for many of my friends who have to

travel out of BOS on a regular basis.

Any air traffic controllers here? Could this be a software glitch, or a hack???

[Rhiannon12866]

6. I know that we have at least one. Should I PM him?

Actually, he might be interested...:shrug:

[MercutioATC]

7. Hi, Rhiannon! Here's the answer I posted in another thread on this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=125&topic_id=57282&mesg_id=57290

If there are any other questions, I'll try to answer them.

[Rhiannon12866]

8. Wow! That was quick, LOL! I was just going to edit my post...

Thank you so much for sharing your expertise. It's sure appreciated here.
:yourock:

Rhi:hi:

[MercutioATC]

10. No problem. That's why I started posting here in the first place.

Not many people understand exactly what we do, how we do it, or how our equipment works. I saw a lot of misconceptions, and I thought I might be able to clear some up.

[Rhiannon12866]

16. Thanks, my friend. I remember well when you joined DU, and I was impressed

and that's the reason you immediately leapt to mind. You sure are a VIP on DU, and we're very fortunate to have you with us. Thanks so much for being here, since we obviously really need you.:D

Rhi:hi:

[Rhiannon12866]

11. The question seem to be why this would suddenly occur now.

And if the sudden heavy rains would have any bearing on this. I admit to knowing very little about this, nor understanding much of your other post. But I would think that Logan would be on top of things and wouldn't let anything compromise either safety or efficiency. They would stand to lose a lot, in terms of confidence, if either safety or timely flights were ever seen to be less than the best. People are worried about flying, more than usual, these days, myself included. Shouldn't Logan have solved this ASAP, to prevent potential flyers from panicking, or couldn't they?:shrug:

[MercutioATC]

12. Like I said, I don't know if they've updated or not...

If they haven't, it's a question of when (and IF) they're scheduled to update. Yes, Logan is a major airport, but there are a lot of factors that don't allow the busiest airports to get the first updates at times (politics, scheduling, contractual agreements, etc.).

I'm back at work on Saturday and I know a controller who used to work at Boston Center. He might know what's going on at Logan.

As far as my other post:

Simply put, this is a known problem with the ASR-9 system (which is what Logan uses). There's a fix for it, but I don't know if Logan's been updated.

[Rhiannon12866]

15. Thank you, my friend, for sharing your knowledge and expertise.

It's reassuring for the rest of us to know that there's someone in your position who not only knows, but who cares. Thanks.
Rhi:-)

[MercutioATC]

9. BTW, this article contains another false statement based on the press not

understanding the mechanics of the system...

The system is slower than the one at Logan, though, and so it prompted controllers to increase the space between planes going in and out of Logan from 3 miles to 5.

It's not SLOWER, it's just not a local sweep radar. Approach controls typically use radar data from ONE local site. Because of this, the margin of error is low and they separate planes within 1000 feet of each other horizontally by 3 miles vertically. If they're not able to use their local site for some reason, the margin of error increases and they're required to use 5 miles.

[loudsue]

13. Dontcha just LOVE DU???? We've got specialists in just about

everything here!! :loveya:

:hi: Thanks, MercutioATC !!! :hi:

Those of us who have flown a great deal sure do appreciate you guys in the towers!! Thanks for taking such good care of us!

And thank you for providing this information for us here on DU!

:kick::kick::kick:

[MercutioATC]

14. My pleasure. :)

Happy to help.

[shadowknows69]

17. I prefer to believe the UFO theory

and I for one welcome our extraterrestrial overlords.

[Rhiannon12866]

18. You never know who might be lurking on DU, right?

:shrug::tinfoilhat::D