A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/778317
The initial kick - off meeting for the Terminal CHI team was held in Washington , D.C. and lead by James Keith (NATCA A rt 114 Terminal Requirements). Mr. Rose attended and is looking forward to providing input and resourc es as this workgroup commences. Eric Labardini and Joe Yannone joined Mr. Rose on Jan 19 at PCT for face - to - face meeti ngs about radar issues. The Fusion Focus Group and SAAT team that worked SCT issues will n ow make PCT the main priority. Additional items working and some completed include the following: ATL tower now has an additional tower radar display. ORD tower will also have an additional tower suite within the next six months. Working the CRP handoff issue with the Navy. Working the JCF STARS verses ERAM replacement of their current system. Working aircraft types and how they are trained and put into the STARS system to work correctly with ATPA. Working with Western ERC to create a Corrective Action Request (CAR) for long - range radars to be optimized for use in terminal environment. MIA has new writing surfaces. P31 weather display issues resolved. Improved conf lict alert software being worked to alleviate false alarms in R9 software Increased use of CRDA to increase volume at D01. Improvement of ELITE backup system. Coordination with Offshore group in deciding which automation system will replace MicroEarts. OSF short term and long term training established for the first time ever. Improvement in plain language documents distributed with new software. Will include pictures and videos. Qwerty keyboard testing and results first quarter of 2017. All STARS sites wil l be on the same software by end of 2017, which is a huge cost savings to the agency. Last but not least, NATCA TAMR SMEs provide input and have a say in every part of terminal automation. TAMR and Common Terminal Digitizer (CTD) Deployment Update by Scott Robillard (K90) : Successful deployment of the CTD is required for the transition to STARS for all sites with an ASR8 that is not already digitized with a TDX - 2000. Without a CTD, thirteen (13) ARTS IIE facilities have no means to transition. These a re: HTS, CKB, CPR, FLO, ELM, GSP, TRI, ALO, BFL, JAN, RFD, AVL and ROA. Over the past eighteen (18) months, NATCA has worked with the Program Office (PO) to identify four (4) other National Defense Program (NDP) assets that could reduce that number to nine (9), but the condition of the assets are unknown nor is it kno wn if the FAA can procure them. The CTD has been in development for approximately three (3) years. As we draw near the end of development, and while deployment is occurring, two tests events were scheduled for the month of January (week of Jan 9 and January 23). At the conclusion of the second week, it was expected that a suitability call would be attempted. Without a suitability call, the system cannot go operational at any site in the NAS. E ven though the system has not proven to be a viable means of digitizing an ASR8, the CTD PO has