A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/1038866
an aircraft is approaching the wrong runway or a closed runway depending on system knowledge of the arrival track and adaptable criteria. In recent years, there have been newsworthy events of pilots attempting to land on airport taxiways and wrong runways. Since most of these incidents occur in visual environment near the airport, the intent of ARV is to provide alerts to tower controllers by monitoring a stabilized approach two to three nautical miles from the runway. The STRWG is reviewing the enhancements and potential CHI considerations. Program Trouble Report Working Group (PTRWG) NATCA presented several PTRs during the September meeting for review. Several improvement PTRs were evaluated because they were either obsolete or resolved by other software changes. Eleven were closed, three were re-ranked, and four moved to the watch list. NATCA elevated a PTR to enable plot playbacks in fused mode when using playback applications like FALCON. Currently CDR is the only means to see an air traffic playback in fused mode. MSAW/CA Board Refinements of the Standards and Guidelines were recently noted due to upslope MSAW changes necessitated by the installation of STARS at Aspen, Colo. Temperature corrected or "snowflake" approach plates and subsequent pilot actions are having an effect on MSAW monitoring primarily at mountainous airports. Adapting MSAW parameters for winter and summer is challenging and can produce nuisance alarms and is not dynamic. Software solutions will be discussed at the next Board meeting as well as adaptation guidance in the Standards and Guidelines. Software Planning Board The Operating System transition from Solaris to Linux is scheduled to begin February 2022. Support for the Oracle Solaris OS ends January 2021 and Linux enables mandatory security protocols. This presents a challenge to build planning since R9/R10/R11 development, integration, testing, regression and key sites will be constrained by the OS software activity and rollout. R11 presents the most risk to the software schedule and stakeholders are reviewing build content to reduce impact of R11 deployment. STARS Hardware Shreveport, La. (BAD) is scheduled to IOC on STARS G4 ELITE in January. Because of unique midshift operation, a modification to the backup system has been identified and is being investigated. NATCA, second level engineering, field support and the TAMR program office are working on a solution. TAMR is nearing the final year of deployment activity. To date, most of the terminal sites in the NAS have had ARTS or legacy STARS systems replaced with the STARS G4 and G4 ELITE system hardware. Any anomalies and problems with the G4 systems are typically reported immediately and field support takes quick action to ascertain the problem and implement a remedy. As we continue to roll out hardware, please let us know as soon as possible if your facility encounters any issues related to track balls, monitors, or keyboards.