A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/793416
Within the NAS , there are five STARS LITE facilities and four ARTS IE facilities still in operation. TAMR , within the next three years , will replace equipment these fa cilities use on a daily basis. TVC, LRD, SAF, and GCN are all NATCA facilities. NATCA TAMR will be maki ng contact with the FacReps very soon to discuss the new software, hardware, and training that accompany the transition. For the remaining facilities (EGE, ESN, SLN, RDD, and DBQ) , NATCA will be instrumental in transitions and ensure these FCT towers (Fede ral Contract Tower) have a good impression of NATCA. TAMR was advised that the agency has approved the consolidation of eight facilities on the TAMR deployment waterfall. Akron - Canton (CAK), Lansing (LAN), Grand Rapids (GRR), Saginaw (MBS), Mansfield (MFD ), Erie (ERI), Fl int (FNT), and Muskegon (MKG). The facilities were advised on Feb 16th that they would become Remote Towers off Buffalo, Kalamazoo, or Cleveland TRACONs. Mr. Rose spent two weeks at the William J. Hughes Technical Center testing S6R6D5 s oftware for an upcoming software upgrade. He a ttended surveillance meeting at Southern California TRACON for a futu re upgrade of radar assets. Potomac TRACON declared ORD (Operational Readiness Decision) which means they will be removing all ARTS IIIE equ ipment, which will start the week of February 20. On February 4, the TAMR team held an Article 114 meeting in which James Keith (ZDC) and Jason Grider (ZFW) attended to discuss Terminal CHI workgroup and ATOC (ATO O perational Contingency Group). TAMR wil l be working closely with both groups to incorporate Terminal CHI SMEs and coordinate equipment availability for ATOC. Mr. Rose is coordinating ATSAPs and CARs related to radar issues throughout the NAS relat ed to outdated infrastructure. Kyle Ness (M98) has taken ove r as the MSAW Board NATCA SME. Training Report Submitted by Bill Spence (BTV) W orking a very busy R4 rollout. We have 95 total sites to visit and brief this very important software version that will prepare every terminal site to transition to what will ultima tely be one software baseline. It is the latest step in the overall TAMR goal of one common platform and software baseline in the Terminal NAS. Team members Kyle Ness (M98), Jill Carr (TPA), Jason Rose (D01), Pat Carter (D10), Teah Lord (F11), Chris Falcone (MDT), Ross Costa (RSW), and Chris Hilbert (PHL) are averaging about 12 briefs a month and are on pace to co mplete work ahead of schedule. There can't be enough said about the support from our b rothers and s isters from the OSF, led by national lead Randy Garcia (DEN OSF) and TAMR lead Scott Kendrick (North TX OSF). As we prepare to transition dozens more ARTS IIE sites to STARS, we have a very busy Air Traff ic Training briefing schedule. Chris Falcone (MDT) is helping with the workloa d and taking a bigger role in STARS AT training. We soon will finalize a tower - only course that we will utilize in the future training of facilities that are rec eiving STARS without a TRACON. Falcone and Peter Sachs (SFO) are working with me on this.