A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/785247
aimed at mitigating tracking issues in the LA Basin, including the effec t of the new Stadium near LAX. NATCA and the Agency have agreed to move forward wi th raising the LGB radar site. This was thought to be one of the easier solutions to put in place, but the Agency cannot seem to get out of their own way to do so. Meanwhile the SAAT team has been working on a costly Wide Area Multilateration (WAM) design. Agency and Stadium proponents have completed negotiations over funding and announced th at a shared cost agreement allowing WAM deployment to move forward. WAM in the LA B asin area will be in three phases: update nine existing ADS - B Radios to support WAM via Virtual Radar (CLT configuration), add eight new r adios to supplement the WAM coverage (still using VR), then update STARS to allow for WAM in Native format ( one second update rate). The first phase is moving along rapidly. The nine existing r adios are almost updated, and c ontractor testing will follow. A flight inspection could occur as early as Jul y, and operational use by August 2017. Las Vegas (L30) has successfully completed their OSD but has not determined when they will transition to Fusion. NATCA SBS is trying to work with the facility on any internally identified obstacles or issues. SAAT h as agreed to begin analyzing Potomac (PCT) Fusion i ssues for potential solutions. The facility has been struggling with a number of issues related to problem radar sites or a lack of coverage. Vehicle ADS - B: 996 Vehicles equipped at 17 a irports. BDL is t he latest a irport to deploy v ehicle transponders . Audits of the 17 airports will start soon in efforts to identify and mitigate various issues that have been identified through deployment thus far. The team just finished a trip to ATL to demo a new system for vehicles that also includes runway incursion software. Dan Hamilton will be reaching out to Bridget Gee (Runway Safety Rep) to discuss this new system. WEATHER Matt Tucker (ZTL) is NATCA's Article 114 Representative for Weather. His update for the m embership is below. Collaborative decision Making Weather Evaluation Team (CDM - WET) The Weather evaluation team , with concurrence of the CDM steering group (CSG) , has taken on a new direction. The last couple of years the group was trying to implement a new product called CAWS , but due to a number of issues, ranging from not being on the TSD, lack of collaboration among the forecasters, and confusion on how the product should be used , the group h as terminated the test and changed direction a little. The replace ment for CAWS will be the Traffic Flow Management Convective Forecast. This product will come from the aviation Weather Center and will be on the TSD instead of the old CCFP.