A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/740802
NTSB: T he NTSB is commencing a special investigation into runway incursions. The plan is to develop a Special Investigation Report (SIR) initiating a comprehensive discussion on runway safety in the National Airspace System (NAS) focusing on runway incursion cause, effect , and mitigation. The report would include an overview of runway incursion history, mitigatio n efforts to date, areas of concern, and recommendations and suggestions to reduce the frequency and severity of systemic NAS wide and airport specific runway incursions. As the NATCA runway safety and RWSL subject matter expert, the NTSB h as requested my yet - to - be - defined support for this project. SURVEILLANCE BROADCAST SERVICES (SBS) OFFICE: Eric Labardini (ZHU) is the Article 48 Re presentative to the SBS Office. Below is the update for SBS. The NATCA Surveillance and Broadcast Services (SBS) team inclu des: Eric Labardini (ZHU), National SBS Article 48 Rep, Craig Bielek (A90), Dan Hamilton (SFO), National Airport Surface Surveillance Capability (ASSC) Rep, Andrew Stachowiak (I90), and Tom Zarick (ZDV), National Interval Management Rep . ADS - B As of this update , 17,697 of 25,578 equipped aircraft are broadcasting ADS - B Rule compliant avionics in the NAS. The numbers above reflect about 10 percent of all traffic in the NAS are ADS - B Rule compliant , and the difference in the two numb ers represents problem av ionics that are normally screened by ATC automation systems. An issue not screened by automation systems , but an important assumption for future ADS - B dependent applications , is the br oadcast call sign of the user. ADS - B sends this information to automat ion systems for comp arison to the filed call sign. When a mismatch occurs a Call Sign Mismatch (CSMM) alert can be generated. Data from ZAN showed over 2100 CSMM alerts were generated i n just one month (March 2017). This prompted SBS Article 48 to recommen d all MEARTS sites disable CSMM alerts and poll all ERAM sites to ga uge the extent of the problem. In July 2017, over 44,000 CSMM conditions were present in all ERAM sites! Obviously, a lot of work is needed , and fortunately , CSMM alerts are disabled in al l ERAM, STARS, and ASDE/ASSC sites. MEARTS sites can do the same with Build 16.01 or later. The SBS PO rough estimate of avionics installation capacity nationwid e is 50,000 aircraft per year. With the January 1, 2020 , deadline to equip quickly approaching , concern is high that equipage levels will fall short of the estimated tota l NAS fleet (100,000 - 160,000). Users that wait too close to 2020 may find that the availability of ins tallers falls short of demand. The Agency has launched a new incentive $500 re bate program for a limited number of piston single engine aircraft. ADS - B IOCs have been completed at all En Route (ERAM and MEARTS) facilities. ZSE, ZAB, ZAU, and ZMP completed their planned sort cell promotions on Oct 13. All but one ERAM site has pro moted ADS - B t o the top of their sort cells. Still awaiting a decision from ZMA. 83 of 155 Terminal sites have reached their ADS - B IOC a nd 75 are operating on Fusion. The remaining Terminal sites are ARTS 2E sites awaiting an upgra de to the ELITE (STARS) b uild. The Terminal ADS - B/Fusion tran sition proceeds in this order: Kickoff