A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/713778
transition at TLH. This was one of the more difficult sites due to power i ssues, as well as RADAR issues. A lightning strike at the RADAR site three days before IOC made the obstacles TAMR usually face s in a transition tenfold. FAI was smoot h but no less challenging. Rachel Lamont (NATCA Pacific OSF) did an outstanding job with adaptation and was onsite to correct any issues prior to and after IOC. Mr. Rose and Eric Labardini are working a pressing issue at Centennial Tower (APA) in Colorad o. The tower, since Denver TRACON (D01) started using fusion RADAR, has seen an i ncrease in false targets and duplicate targets. It has been decided to do a tilt study on the Parker long range RADAR, whi ch is the cause of the issues. Unfortunately engineering services had to call in Environmental and Occupational Safety and Health (EOS H) to investigate th e pedestal the RADAR sits upon. It was deemed not safe to climb but EOSH believes they can provid e a safe climbing environment. The tilt study will be conducted the week of Aug 22. The short - term solution is to once again change adaptat ion, which Randy Garcia (NATCA Denver OSF) will be testing with the help of D01 and APA. Chicago TRACON (C90) , since the transition to STARs , has had some problems with conflict alert (CA) and missing strips. The missing strip issue has been resolved and t he TAMR PO and NATCA are working the CA issue as fast as possible. Mr. Rose will be traveling to C90 on Aug 8 to meet with NATCA and management. New York TRACON (N90) is full steam ahead when it comes t o STARS . AT Coach remains an issue but two fixes are c om ing in the next couple months. This will be good news for all facilities. STARS AT Coach (Terminal Simulation) over the next three years will have a massive overhaul . STARs will be moving to a Linux - based operating system. With this change , AT Coach will have to be updated. Mr. Rose, Bill Spence (NATCA TAMR Training) , and Tom Adcock (Training Art 48) are continuing to gather information on changes to and makeup of the new AT Coach. Pensacola (P31) RADAR and weather presentation issues were re ported fixed and satisfactory. This is excellent news coming out of a facility that has to deal with weather events almost everyday starting in spring until fall. Scott Robillard (NATCA TAMR SEG 2), Candy Barr (NATCA TAMR OSF), and Aaron Rose discussed Common Terminal Digitizer, s oftware improvements, and training at the m onthly TAMR Article 48 meeting. Lisa Bercher (TAMR PM) and Mr. Rose lead the discussions, which als o included TSLE, PASS, and OSF. Report from TAMR deployment lead Scott Robillard (K90) : STARS Phase 1 activity is the tech re fresh from G1/G2 legacy to STARS G4 and Elite. Since tech refresh was congressionally funded, the followin g milestones have been reached: Phase 1 achieved Initial Operational Capabil ity (IOC) at its first seven sites. Phase 1 has had STARS G4 equipment delivered to an additional six sites. Phase 1 has completed Site Surveys at an additional 11 sites. In total: Phase 1 is conducting work in 17 of the legacy STARS facilities. These activities are to upgrade the Legacy STARs G1/2 systems to the G4 platform. Most recently, NATCA SMEs have been to P50, DAB, IND , and ABQ. In the next month, NATCA SMEs will be attending meetings at SAT, MCI, A11, BHM, CMH, CVG , and OKC. Phase 3 SEG2 is the complete replacem ent of all ARTS IIE in the NAS. To m eet the milestones for the SEG2 program, 34 ARTS IIEs need to be transitioned to STARS G4 ELITE by December 31, 2016. Since the last update, the SEG2 team has successfully transitioned Tallahassee (TLH) and Fairbanks (FAI) to the STARS family. This brings the total to 28 transitions since 4/15/14. TAMR has transitions