A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/645606
evaluate the TOCO's efforts to assist the FAA with mitigating the impact of recent air traffic control system disruptions and with updating contin gency plans. The ACT - 2 was the first item discussed. The group was pleased by the wor k the TOCO has produced. After the analysts review the documentation the TOCO provided, the TOCO will meet with them again. The OIG group was concerned the TOCO has not be en informed of a continuation of the temporary office or creation of the permanent o ffice. The OIG group intends to address this issue with the TOCO's sponsors. • The OCP Field Team consists of regional OSGs and TOCO members. The team has created a baseline for enroute facility performance to assess the effectiveness of revised enroute OCPs against the admin istrator's efficiency targets. The group is working toward the same for remaining tier 1 facility. The group will be help ing the facilit ies with their OCPs, as needed. The TOCO is studying various models to measure OCP efficiency and for training, similar to the ATAC iSIM used for metroplex studies. • LOOKING AHEAD: TOCO's tech ops specialist Jimmy Black and assistant program manager Deb Brady will be visiting Harris Corp. in Melbourne, FL to discuss implementation of technical requirem ents. The ATO has found $14M (split into a 2 - year span) to upgrade requirements to aid in continuity and resiliency of the NAS with ATC - Zero out ages. The TOCO has been asked to rank the 20 ARTCCs to help FAA management develop a waterfall for installatio n of the requirements. • Several TOCO members will be going to the Tech Center to observe the Offshore Analysis Demo of NextGen System, as we contin ue developing successful OCPs for the non - CONUS facilities. TERMINAL AUTOMATION MODERNIZATION REPLACEMENT (TAMR): Mitch Herrick (MIA) is the Artic le 48 Representative for TAMR. The reports of the TAMR team are below. • STARS/TAMR o SCT has been receiving a great deal of attention due to the erratic target behavior previously discussed. As a result of those issues , the Agency and TAMR p rogram have employed an "all hands on dec k" approach to find solutions. A "playdate" where SCT contr ollers went to the Tech Center and helped Raytheon and Tech Center p ersonnel work on the coding of the tracker as well as an "on site" OT+E conducted at SCT were held leading up to a 72 - hour run for suitability over the weekend of February 18 - 21 . A determi nation will be made as to whether SCT will stay on STARS or t emporarily fall back to CARTS. o As with many things there are positives to take away from some of the adversity that SCT has endured: o We have learned a great deal about adaptation and need for "qu ality" radar input. o We have learned a great deal about how the STARS tracker reacts to "poor quality" radar input and what must happen to deal with it. o We better understand the importance of early analysis to determine potential false targets and radar ref lections. o The most important and exciting thing to come out of this process is something that was developed while the SCT controllers were in