A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/724722
Mr. Rose dropped into ORD for a visit before flying out to Corpus Christi . Eric Toll , the local TAMR rep for ORD , conducted a tour and discussed the high priorit y issues. ORD submitted a Needs Assessment Program (NAP) request for additional STARS tower suites. The NAP has been approved and will help ORD : the individual suites will give each controller access and control for the Tower Display Workstation (TDW) th ey are working from. CAs is also an issue, and like above , coordination is ongoing but must come from C90. Corpus Christi (CRP) is having issues with automation between CRP and N aval Air Station (NAS) Corpus. They are unable to accomplish automated hand offs or point outs. Jeff Woods (NATCA Art48 PMO), Lisa Bercher (FAA TAMR PO), Mark Minik (FAA AJV - 2), and Aaron Rose visited CRP and Navy Corpus to observe both operations and determine what needs to be accomplished to al leviate landline coordination. CRP runs the radar pattern for the Navy. Findings are ongoing and options in software and hardware are being explored. E ric Owens (ART 48 TBFM/TSAS) invited Mr. Rose to the Terminal Spacing and Sequencing (TS AS) meeting in Marlborough, Mass. The meeting was held at the Raytheon facility. Raytheon is the prime contractor for STARS and is working in concert with Loc kheed Mart in on the TSAS tool. Many changes need to happen both with the training platform and software to e nsure TSAS works within STARS. Mr. Owens and Mr. Rose are working with both program offices and with contractors to ensure the product will have a positive im pact for controllers. Mr. Rose attended the NATCA C onvention, which was held in the finest city in the world – San Diego . Thank you Ha mid and Western Pacific Region. Fort Wayne, Ind. (FWA) and Huntsville, Ala. (HSV) both transitioned to STARS ELITE this pa st month. This next month will see Portland (ME) , Cedar Rapids, and Eugene all transition. Flying Cloud (FCM) will have a new monitor installed in the tower to help the controllers differentiate when an aircraft is lined up for the wrong runway. They will be utilizing Final Moni tor Aid (FMA) portion of STARS. It was a long time coming but well worth the time and effort to improve the safety of flight at FCM. Until now, the controllers could not tell by the angle of sight which run way the aircraft was lined up. This tool will be positioned at local and a quick glance will verify the aircraft's position in relation to the runway th reshold. Atlanta tower (ATL) received and installed three new tower STARS suites. San Antonio (SAT) has now completed their transi tion t o Main Display Monitors (MDM). Phoenix TRACON (P50) has completed the power panel change in preparation for tech refres h from G1/2 to G4. Report from TAMR deployment lead Scott Robillard (K90) : STARS Deployment activity continu es to progress across the NAS. NATCA ensures the systems are being deployed almost weekly without incurring delays and minimizing outages. This is amazing considering the type of facilities, complexity of systems, and personnel involved with each transition. TAMR is currently c onducting work in 21 legacy STARS facilit ies and 53 ARTS IIE facilities. Starting with site surveys then progressing to equipmen t design, delivery, and install. It ends with operational cutover and removal of the legacy system whether it be ARTS IIE or ST A RS G1/2. The level of work being accomplished nation wide is unprecedented. Since the last update, the following sites have transitioned to STARS: Wilkes - Barre, Pa. (AVP) Roswell, N.M. (ROW) Fort Wayne, Ind. (FWA)