A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/703686
issues. NATCA SMEs are on site and coordinating with the agency to ensure safety is the first priority. Fairbanks (FAI): Solutions to the Long Range Radar (LRRs) issues have been foun d and IOC is progressing forward. FAI is a site that uses two DOD LRRs that need to go through a number of security systems prior to reaching the FAI facility. Indianapolis (IND): IND is transitioning from STARS G1 to STARS G4 ELITE. NATCA, the program off ice , and IND are working closely to ensure that the size of the STARS system installed fits the needs of the facility in the future. Merge Build and Merge Build training One of the underlying goals of TAMR is to get the entire terminal N AS onto one softwa re baseline. Within the program, this is called the Merge. To accomplish the goal, NATCA partnered with the tech center, Raytheon , and TAMR PO to build a Merge training program and waterfall. The method of rolling the merge build out is to use NATCA Nation al Reps to train cadres in each facility to train the Merge Build. In June, NATCA and the PO brought MDT, PHL, ACY , and GEG to the tech center to receive Merge Build training. We within the TAMR program used this opportunity to train ou r SMEs. NATCA and th e TAMR PO are jointly developing a Merge Build Deployment schedule. Common Terminal Digitizer (CTD) If there is one Achilles Heel for the STARS waterfall, it is sites with an ASR8 that have not previously been digitized with a TDX - 2000. Over the past 3 ye ars , NATCA has been deeply invested in the development of the Co mmon Terminal Digitizer (CTD). Of the 41 ASR8 radars in the NAS , 23 of them have no digitization and have moved to the tail end of the waterfall. Issues during early testing revealed a design flaw. This revelation creates an interesting problem: the CTD has not completed DT&E and has not even started OT&E. NATCA has pushed for a user evaluation to be completed and for it to be determined suitable for use in the field. However, the first units have been delivered to the key - sites (ROA and RFD) and a group of post key - site units are preparing for shipment. NATCA reached an agreement with the CTD PO to keep the installation schedule progressing with the knowledge that the redesign need s to pass te sting at the WJHTC. TIME BASED FLOW MANAGEMENT (TBFM): Eric Owens (I90) is the Article 48 Representative for TBFM. His report to the membership is below: June 6 - 16, 2016, TBFM National Ops Team members were at Denver Center (ZDV) and Kansas City Center ( ZKC) to assist with implementation of Adjacent Center M etering (ACM) from ZKC to ZDV. This effort was successful and the ZKC controllers appeared to be comfortable with the use of TBFM and having times on the glass. The week of June 20th, Ops Team members attended a Strategic Flow Management Application meeting at MITRE. This program is very early in the concept development phase but when fully developed and implemented has the potential to pull the 3T programs together. The week of June 27th, I attended a Terminal Sequencing and Spacing (TSAS) meeting in Washington, D.C . We agreed to have meetings every other week until we get the requirements fully developed. TSAS will be key si ted at Seattle TRACON in 2019. If everything goes well at Seattle TRACON, we wi ll install at Denver TRA CON six months after key site. The TSAS Ops Team is planning on visiting Seattle TRACON in